"Saturday afternoon I gathered the necessities for the backyard adventure; sleeping bag, flashlight, firecrackers, and just in case we got attacked by a pack of rabid dogs-a BB gun. In the spirited mind of a boy, Illinois back then was a wilderness. A rugged no man's land of wild beasts and unspeakable dangers. No place for a tenderfoot."

Meet Frank Nightlinger, an ordinary, middle-aged man who feels as if the world's best adventures have forever vanished.

The gloom begins to lift one night in the company of newfound friends. Between dusk and dawn where light and dark part company,...