This book took five years to write; it is the dance with hope, love, cancer, and death. The poem "The Dance" sets the story in place. "We can't have the dance without the pain." Just Beneath Hope is a nonfiction manuscript. The book takes place in a small town in Franklin County Missouri. It is based on the true struggle of Bob and his illnesses and the caregiver who balanced it all. It isn't until his last hope to fight for his life comes after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that Bob feels that his life has changed from hope to just beneath hope.