The town of Graumont mourns an unspeakable wrong. Their criminal sits behind bars, yet the suburban citizens remain as perplexed as they are horrified. A myriad cast of characters examine their relation to the desperate act, and under that dark shadow, a young Ira Foster, pulled on by the curiosities of youth, discovers the sordid secrets of his family while his parents turn to opposite strategies in dealing with the fault line forming between them. On the other side of town, Anna Lee has settled down with her mother and sister after many months on the lam. The members of the town weave their stories through each other's in effort to find their own forms of peace or fulfillment, and these searchers find themselves simultaneously aided and hindered by inscrutable, miraculous forces. And between them all, a questioning priest does all he can handle to undo the moral knot they've collectively tied.