Danny Magill is just about a perfect kid. He has everything going for him: looks, grades, athletic ability, and a practically guaranteed admission to the college of his choice. Then the police come pounding at the Magills' door and arrest Danny for a shocking crime, shattering his family's apparently perfect world. But as Danny's mother, Jess, probes more deeply into the circumstances of his arrest, she discovers that things may not have really been "perfect" for quite some time. How could this nightmare be happening to this boy? This family? This town? And how will they all survive? Judith Kelman's novel goes beyond the question of guilt or innocence to explore what the ties that bind are really made of.