"When the village of Heppner, Oregon is destroyed by a flash flood on the evening of June 14, 1903, every man, woman and child left alive is changed forever. Little Lilyanne Harmon and her brother, Gilbert, are missing and presumed dead. Mac Harmon insists, over the objections of nearly everyone in town, that his childrean are still alive. As the survivors struggle to rebuild their town and ther lives, many of them consider Mac and his epic search for his children just evidence of one more life that is broken beyond repair. Will is crippled; Michael is well on his way to becoming a juvenile delinquent; seventyeen-year-old Shan must now raise his three youngest siblings; Grace can't understand why she is still alive. And Esmerelda chooses to act as though a better life were possible -- even for the likes of her. Perhaps it is."-Back cover.