Paris native Lyons Board seemed to have settled comfortably in his hometown after returning from the Great War. He had become a partner in a promising local enterprise, married a beloved and respected high school teacher, and had a daughter.

Then he disappeared.

What was he running from? What was he looking for? As the country shifts from the Roaring 20s to the Great Depression and edges closer to another war, Lyons wanders much of the eastern U.S., finding work wherever he settles. Along the way, he takes up with Effie Mae, a plucky native of the Eastern Kentucky coalfields who begins unraveling his secrets—and eventually prods him to reckon with his decisions.