The story begins in a farm area in rural Kentucky in the early fifties. It follows the journey of three sixteen-year-old close friends whose lives were upended by tragedy.

Tommy met Luke and Rachel at a drive-in theater, where Tommy was the projectionist. The three teens quickly became close friends often going out for milkshakes together. Tommy and Rachel were attracted to one another but never acted upon their feelings because Rachel was Luke's girlfriend. The three of them gathered almost weekly on a nearby farm owned by Sarah and her husband. Sarah enjoyed seeing the kids and soon became a mother figure to them.

Toward the end of their senior year of high school, Luke and Rachel went to a nearby city where Rachel underwent a botched abortion. Driving back, Rachel nearly died from bleeding, but that was not the worst part. They knew that their church would stone them to death. Tommy and Sarah persuaded Rachel and Luke to run away. They helped Rachel and Luke establish new identities, severed all ties with family and friends, and drove away to some unknown place. Sarah and Tommy grieved their departure but knew that it would save their lives.

Sarah and Tommy maintained contact, and when Tommy became a single father of two in St. Louis, Sarah moved to St. Louis to help Tommy with his kids. Tommy was a successful professor, and Sarah managed their finances.

Rachel (now Abby) and Luke (now Carl) escaped to Iowa, where Abby worked in a small medical clinic with one doctor. She and Carl lived on a farm which Carl managed. Carl died in an accident, leaving Abby with their two children.

After fourteen years of separation and a bit of serendipity, Abby, a doctor, and Tommy meet at Stanford University. It was an unexpected and joyous reunion.

Tommy and Abby quickly merged their families and, along with Sarah, settled in a house adjacent to the Stanford campus. They both enjoyed successful careers at Stanford and increased the size of their family to eight kids. Although far from rural Kentucky, where their journeys began, they still enjoyed sharing milkshakes.