Layla's mother, Abby, is deeply despondent and of little help. As the months pass by with no resolution, Abby disappears with her threadbare suitcase and a few belongings, leaving her husband and two teenage sons, Zach and Kyle, behind. Still more questions go unanswered. Did Abby run away from her abusive husband, or was she murdered? The townsfolk of Welton-everyone from the bikers at the Hotel Welton, the local watering hole, to the patrons of the Friday-evening fish fry at Shelly's Café-get caught up in the mystery and the family's misery. In the end, the long-awaited answers spring from rather unexpected sources, including angel visions of a café cook and the vandalized sculpture of an ex-New York City artist.