Western New York, 1978. Terrance Thurber spends this year teaching his children, Jamie, Lewis, and Connor, about the natural world: they listen to the heartbeat of trees, track animal footprints, sleep under the star-filled sky. But he doesn't show them how to survive without him. Now alone with their artist mother, Catrin, the Thurber children grapple with the anger they feel for the one parent who deserted them and a growing resentment for the one who didn't. When Jamie heads for college, Lewis for the navy, and Connor for work, they don't look back. Years later Terrence, sober and filled with regret, tries to build a bridge, through the years, to his family.,adapted from jacket.