From Northern Ireland in 1850 to today's western United States, this is the saga of James and Jean McCleary, the author's grandparents, an immigrant family who began their odyssey in the hill country of County Antrim. Into the coal fields of Scotland, then across the sea to Canada, the McClearys story takes them at last to the United States: via Detroit; Butte, Montana; and Washington State. Plagued by obstacles and hardships, but bolstered by their courage, humor and tenacity, the McClearys brush against greatness along the way, encountering such notables as Henry Ford, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kirk Douglas and John F. Kennedy.