In a doctor s office, a man and

awoman sit stunned as the doc-

tor speaks: Blood tests show with-

out a shadow of a doubt that

the son they love so dearly, and

who is now dying, is not their

child. Incredible as it seems,

there must have been a mix-up

in the hospital where he was

born. Enduring the pain of Peter s

death is a blow they must bear,

but Margaret and Arthur Craw-

field must also confront the real-

ization that somewhere their

biological child still lives.

At the same time that the

Crawfield family s world is turn-

ing upside down, Laura Rice-

Mrs. Homer "Bud" Rice-real-

izes that after nineteen years of

marriage she and her husband

are fundamentally strangers.

Bud Rice is respectable and re-

spected in their small southern

town, a good father to their two

sons-bright, healthy Tom and

eleven-year-old Timmy, who

despite his Chronic illness is a gift

of joy. But Bud is the reason,

Laura believes, for Tom s involve-

ment with a campus group of

terrifying bigots.