Adam Bakken's frames of reference were God and his family, but most of all his father, John, who had taught Adam how to think and feel about family, and about God, and about everything else. John was a strong, intrinsically capable man of deep-seated faith, who, despite his wife's deep-seated emotional frailty, had imbued their four children with vitality and confidence. Carrying those gifts from John as both his preparation and his inspiration, Adam is at Princeton Theological Seminary studying to be a minister when his frames of reference are shaken. After struggling to cope with the aftershocks, Adam leaves Princeton, his friends and his family behind. But he soon discovers he cannot run away, because his history, the memories and the connections all travel with him - and every new experience reminds him of the past, forcing him to take stock again and again.