Back in Elmwood Springs, Missouri the experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ask the question "Why are we here"?

"A distraught businessman who is looking for help walks into the office of a mouthy detective named Jules Bettinger, has a conversation, walks out, and kills himself. Because of this incident, the impolite but decorated policeman is forced to relocate himself and his family from their warm lives in Arizona to the frigid north and work for an understaffed precinct in Victory, Missouri. This collapsed rustbelt city is a dying beast that devours itself...

"The Hemingway Sisters of Cold River, Missouri are local legends. Raised by a mother obsessed with Ernest Hemingway, they were named after the author's four wives--Hadley, Pfeiffer, Martha, and Mary. The sisters couldn't be more different--or more alike. Now they're back in town, reunited to repair their fractured relationships. Hadley is the poised, polished wife of a senator. Pfeiffer is a successful New York book editor. Martha has skyrocketed...

Set in the 1950s in the warm community of Mason, Missouri, Arthur is a shy, unathletic teenage boy, in love with the most beautiful girl in his class. He is thrilled when they become friends, but he wants more than friendship. Alas, he learns that Nola has a crush on the wrong Moses--Arthur's older brother, Frank. Meanwhile, Frank is busy pursuing his own passion, and avoiding their father, a war veteran with a drinking problem and a penchant for...