The time: 1946-2000. The Place: Elmwood Springs, Missouri. Right in the middle of everywhere, which could be anywhere. World War II has ended and the joyous transitions to peace are being - mostly - embraced. Bobby Smith, ten, is the effervescent son of the well-known radio hostess Neighbour Dorothy, who broadcasts every day from her living room, via the tower in her backyard, to an eager, and at times lonely, audience. And meet the Oatman Family Southern Gospel Singers at a pharmaceutical convention in Memphis, where they blow the place away; Hamm Sparks, a super-salesman everyone likes and trusts, who soon sells all of Missouri; and the phenomena known as the Sunset Club, Dinner on the Ground and the Funeral King.