In search of love, absolution, or forgiveness, Charles Boatman leaves British Columbia and returns mysteriously to the country where he fought twenty-eight years earlier as a young, reluctant soldier. But his new encounters seem irreconcilable with his memories. When their father disappears, Ada and her brother, Jon, travel to Danang, Vietnam, to find him. Their quest takes them into the heart of a world that is at once incomprehensible, impassive, and beautiful. Chasing her father's shadow for weeks, following slim leads, Ada feels increasingly hopeless. Yet while Jon slips into the urban nightlife to avoid what he most fears, Ada soon grows closer than ever to her missing father -- and strong enough to forgive him and to bear the truth of his long-kept secret.