Two roads converge and two journeys end at a small, unpromising town called Stoneridge on the high plains of northeast Colorado. Roy Mathis is headed there by car, his head full of inchoate memories and reveries in search of his father, his sister, and context for a fragmented life. Fleeing his mother, who refuses to tell him anything that would help him in his quest, Roy sets his sights on the only desperate hope for a clue in the forgotten whistle-stop town.

Father Fritz has arrived in another way: he has been banished. Though his notorious conduct with young charges has been exposed, Fritz has been up to much worse, as only he knows.