A farmer ends up in a wheelchair after a car crash that results in his wife's death. His son's relationship to him is complicated by a woman who comes into his life and lives with him for a time. He has conflicted feelings towards her and towards his sister, a nun who works in a hospital in Nebraska. These are exacerbated when he goes to London to work, discovering new sides to himself in the city's freewheeling ambience. This is a novel about generational guilt and the manner in which tribal loyalties change as traumatic events unfold both at home and abroad.