When 12-year old Esme saves him from drowning, a course is set that will bring them together in a town inalterably affected by Nestor's accident. Not only is Nestor now deaf, but his is also affected with the ability to create a temporary silence in the world around him that causes the townspeople to switch places.

As Nestor and Esme come of age, we are introduced to a cast of characters: Peter'n'Charlie, the upside-down visitor who wears the strange cat mask of the school mascot, Reverend Clearwater, a town pastor in search of a prophet and Nestor's long-lost father, a spitting image of Jesus Christ who starves himself for weeks at a time as a circus sideshow act.

As the town changes, we question the high notion of a miracle in juxtaposition to the difficulty of achieving what we need in our everyday circumstances. Can Nestor find fulfillment in his affection for Esme and his search for a barely-remembered father, or do the expectations of a town in search of something greater than its own banality force him into the inherent isolation that comes in deafness?