A man steers a 1953 Chevy pickup onto the parking lot at Marilyn's Cafe, then drops dead on the gravel. Who is he and what does he mean for a forgotten Midwestern town and The Heavenly Choir, eight times winner of the Habernine County choral competition? It takes a lot of travel for Millie, the soprano, and Pete, the baritone, to find what they're not sure they're looking for and may not recognize if they see it. Along the way, they stumble across a paralyzed detective, spontaneously generated shoes, the nameless Grey Man, ancient bits of parchment bound in platinum wire, the psychic twins from hell, and dreams of a skink salesman. In the end, though, what counts isn't who the dead man is but what he's given to all the lives and places he's touched.