This memoir revisits a Bible-based boyhood in Hannibal Missouri, or "America's Hometown," as the tourist brochures proclaim. Hale-cheeked meanderings along the Mississippi River give way to long sleepless nights when the author falls for a girl who was voted the town's official "Becky Thatcher" representative. Her dimples and sunny disposition hide a dark past: she had been orphaned at a young age in Germany when her dad was responsible for the death of her mother, and her name was changed by her adoptive parents in America. The author's father is an itinerant preacher and the young couple quickly find themselves in violation of the most cherished rules of family, church, and state.