Maximilian Fausto is on a mission. His dead mother set him the task of collecting her personal journals, but he quickly discovers that the elusive journals are not so easy to find. And he begins to suspect that his mother planned this journey for his personal growth. He's suspicious and depressed by nature, and he chafes against any attempt to right himself with the world. Things get rough for Max. He's snared in a destructive love affair; he tangles with an Evangelical family; he narrowly escapes a drug lord's wrath. But working with his fractious family--a brother disabled in Vietnam, a well-meaning but alcoholic uncle, an angry father and a handful of dotty aunts--Max learns the evanescent quality of true love. This odyssey is filled with heartache as well as joy, with the struggles and triumphs played out against a backdrop of profound longing and deep hope.