Everyman Joe Bass is the very picture of middle-class respectability, with a wife and two kids and a good job in town. His only escape from his remarkably mundane and ordinary life is his favorite pastimefishing. One day while fishing in the Nolin River, Joe meets a rascally old moonshine man, Edgar J. Johnson, who invites him to fish in his private lake. It's a dream come true for Joethe old man's lake is chockfull of fishand a genuine friendship develops. That friendship is tested when Joe learns of dark secrets lurking in the old man's past; virtually every aspect of Johnson's life had been ruined by alcoholism. Their friendship is tested further when the old man becomes gravely ill, and Joe is the only person who can help. Shine offers the story of an enduring friendship that overcomes all boundaries and obstacles