"The painter, who was sitting on a stool, stared at Ivan so steadily that Ivan felt a faint touch of fear, as though he were being asked a question he could never answer." Thus begins the compelling story of an unusual relationship between a sensitive young boy and an artist whose appearance in his life proves to be life-changing.Ivan's father is a businessman who pays little attention to him, his mother is dead, and he spends most of his time at his home in New York, attended only by the Haitian housekeeper. His father commissions an artist, Matt Mustazza, to paint a portrait of Ivan, but he also gives his son another gift: permission to accompany Matt on a trip to paint an old mansion in Florida. The idea of driving all the way from New York to Florida excites him in a way he's never felt before. Ivan, Matt, and his eccentric friend Miss Manderby and her cat Alyosha pile into a "crazy old car" and head south, where Ivan meets a free-spirited girl, Geneva, and begins the painful but rewarding process of finding himself.