A family tragedy propels seventeen-year-old Jeremy Taylor into a cross-country odyssey to find his estranged, yet beloved, grandfather. On the road west from Philadelphia, Jeremy is thrust into a world of misfits: a pancake-addicted long-haul trucker, a family road-schooling their autistic son, and a loquacious traveling dictionary salesman who tries to outrun his headlights and can tell you how many broken white lines are in a mile - 124. In Texas, Jeremy finds his folk-hero grandfather, now an aging curmudgeon, living alone in a desolate land. On the ride back to civilization, a breakdown and a detour lead to an awakening for both men. But back on the East Coast, the duo must come to terms with the past and confront an uncertain future. The Bison and the Butterfly is a road novel in the literary tradition of escape and return, and journey to enlightenment. It is an end-of-innocence tale, a redemption narrative, a story that follows an uncharted path on the road to forgiveness, recovery and redemption.