by Christine G.

Created on: July 12, 2008

Ordinary people drift along day by day, doing ordinary things in ordinary ways. When tragedy rips through the fabric of their lives, they must become extraordinary. If they choose to embark on the treacherous seas of the healing process, they discover new significance and new aspirations. If they choose to hide in denial, they become the kind of people others feel sorry for. Either way, they are transformed, and must begin a new life, outside the boundaries of their ordinary reality.

The Jarrett family are ordinary people in Lake Forest, Illinois, during the 1970s. Calvin, a tax attorney, runs a small firm with a partner. At the end of the day, he comes home to his wife Beth and his sons, Buck and Conrad. Their lives are stable until Buck is killed in a boating accident. Conrad blames himself and slashes his wrists. His father finds him in the bathtub and hospitalizes him. During Conrad's therapy, he befriends another suicidal patient, Karen.

The novel begins a month after Conrad is released from the hospital. He is being treated by a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, who gently and firmly continues to probe for the truth, despite Conrad's resistance. Initially, Conrad's agenda is to manipulate his father into leaving him alone, so that his ordinary life can resume. However, his academic progress at school is faltering, he is becoming more and more alienated from his friends, and his passion for swimming is fizzling.

Communication on the home front is strained. Conrad's father wants to talk things out; his mother wants to pretend that nothing happened. She wants to be emotionally self-sufficient, forget the past, and manipulate everyone else into re-creating life before the accident. But how is such a thing possible without Buck?

Conrad quits the swimming team, and hangs out at the library instead. He meets with his friend Karen, who seems to be doing better. He becomes interested in a new girl at school, Jeannine Pratt, and they begin to date.

There is little or no evidence that Dr. Berger is helping Conrad, and his parents fight constantly about how to handle the situation. Beth believes that Calvin is pampering their son, encouraging him to prolong his illness.

After a swim meet, Conrad gets into a fist fight with an old friend. His parents become increasingly concerned.

While his parents are on vacation, Conrad stays with his grandparents and spends a lot of time with Jeannine. One night, he reads in the newspaper that Karen has committed suicide. The shock throws him into a trance-like state, where he re-lives his past. He goes walking at 2AM, and is stopped by the police and told to go home. In the morning, he calls Dr. Berger and asks to meet with him. He admits that he blames himself for Buck's death, and his journey to emotional healing finally begins.

His parents are not so fortunate. The conflict between Calvin and Beth continues to escalate. Resisting Calvin's efforts to talk through their problems as a family, she decides to go to Europe, leaving their irreconcilable differences behind. Calvin and his father manage to connect in their grief, and acknowledge their love for each other. They move to Evanston, hoping to build a new relationship. The moulds of their ordinary lives have been shattered, and their new journey has begun.

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