Young Irish American Saul Sullivan marries a beautiful Cherokee woman named Vine. As a mixed race couple, they weather a storm of prejudice, but eventually find acceptance with Saul's family. Then Saul must move away to another country for a year to find work. Taking advantage of his absence, Aaron, Saul's jealous younger brother, begins to make unwanted advances on Vine. The tragic violence to come will change all of their lives forever.

"In the near future, as fires devastate most of the United States, Lark and his family secure a place on a boat headed to Ireland, which is rumored to be accepting refugees and is the last country not yet overrun by extremists"--

For ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former war protester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father's nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict.