Enger, Leif
Midwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is "cruising along at medium altitude" when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives but his language and memory are altered and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life
Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town
with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals-from Rune
a twinkling
pipe-smoking
kite-flying stranger investigating the mystery of his disappeared son; to Nadine
the reserved
enchanting wife of the vanished man
to Tom
a journalist and Virgil's oldest friend; and various members of the Pea family who must confront tragedies of their own. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town.