Everyone in town believes that gold was once found in the river outside Harmony, Nebraska. Brightes of the class of 1992 but unsure what to do with her life, Emily Zimmerman stays home, compelled by her quest to find traces of the gold that put Harmony on the map. While employed in the local nursing home, Emily discovers a world of routine death, regret, and senility underlined with dark humor and the seeds of deepest hope. Meanwhile, the key to her mystery is locked insides the memory of an old man who has traveled, studied, written, and fogotten more than Emily has ever known."Esteemed Colleagues,As you area already well aware, it became necessary in the course of natural scientific inquiry for us to confirm or deny the claims that Harmony, Nebraska, had in 1882 been the site of a minor gold rush. Because no map contained any hint of geological aberration that might indicate any remote possibility that there could be a vein or deposit, I raveled out to Harmony this summer and inspectie the South Loup myself." --Professor Owen Thibodeaux