John Matherson, a retired military colonel, lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with his two daughters, Jennifer and Elizabeth, and teaches history at Montreat College. Originally from New Jersey, John moved the family back to his wife Mary’s hometown when she developed terminal breast cancer. John is still mourning her death four years later. 

As he goes about his daily errands, John savors the small-town charm of Black Mountain: “I’m living in a damn Norman Rockwell painting, he thought yet again, for the thousandth time” (18). Today is special because John is buying a birthday gift for Jennifer, his 12-year-old diabetic daughter.

He arrives home to find his mother-in-law, Jen, parked in the driveway: “Me-ma Jennie was behind the wheel of her wonderful and highly eccentric 1959 Ford Edsel” (22). When Jennifer comes home from school, John notes that she looks a little run down and advises her to take some insulin. Feeling better, Jennifer opens her presents and goes outside to romp with the family’s two golden retrievers, Ginger and Zach.

John begins grilling hamburgers for Jennifer’s birthday party when he gets a call from an old friend in Washington. The phone abruptly goes dead. A few minutes later, Jennifer reports that the electricity is not working either.