Includes questions for discussion and author's note

"After a long absence, Ben Zook returns to his childhood home of Stoney Ridge in search of a rare bird. He plans to find the bird and leave rather than pick up where he left off. But he soon discovers that even if you try to forget the past, the past remembers you"--

Ben Zook has cobbled together his only two loves in his life-- books and birds-- by writing books about rare birds. Then a chase for a rare White-winged Tern takes him to the one place on earth he planned to never return: his Amish home in Stoney Ridge. He hires a local field guide, Micah Weaver, and boards at Micah's farm, planning to "bag the bird" and leave Stoney Ridge before anyone recognizes him. One long-ago summer Micah's sister, Penny, had introduced Ben to birding, even sharing with him a hidden eagle aerie-- and always hoped Ben would come back to Stoney Ridge. The only problem? Ben has absolutely no memory of Penny. -- adapted from back cover