Description:

What is it in us that makes it so difficult to stay in one place, to be satisfied with the town we grew up in? And where is it written that one can only find happiness with success, with money, with a career?

Narrator Luke Cieslinski doesn't have the answers, and he can't stop searching for them. When he sees his opportunity to leave everything behind---his friends, his job, his family---he does, escaping his hometown and striking out to find something more. In an attempt to find success with his painting, Luke hitchhikes his way to the big city to start all over, and soon finds himself falling into the same traps all over again.

When Luke finally begins to see his life change for the better, tragedy strikes. "Dodge County," his friend once said, "is like a black hole. It doesn't let you leave, not without a fight."