Michael Genadry

Working in a Boston homeless shelter, Nick Flynn re-encounters his father, a con man and self-proclaimed poet. Sensing trouble in his own life, Nick wrestles with the notion of reaching out yet again to his dad.

Straitlaced Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by her former classmate, the freewheeling John Pressman. Pressman has surmised that Jeremiah, his gifted yet very unconventional student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago.

After his wife leaves him and he's fired from his job at a high-profile New York city law firm, Ed Stevens moves back to his small hometown of Stuckeyville where he buys the local bowling alley and attempts to win the heart of his high school crush.