1992. A strange car approaches Tyler Manning's Kansas farmhouse. By the time the battered vehicle departs, Tyler, a bachelor and teacher is, holding a three-week old infant, placed in his arms by a teenager who claims the baby's father is his estranged brother. Woven throughout the narrative of May Manning's upbringing, assisted by a surprising community of neighbors and colleagues, is the story of Tyler and his younger brother Mickey, a reimaging of G. Eliot's "Silas Marner."