A mid-career college professor in idyllic southern Wisconsin was jarred from his tranquil life into one marked by chaos and opposition from nearly every angle. His crime: loving his kids.

This devoted dad saw his children turned into weapons and used against him by a mom willing to poison her own kids to avenge. Undaunted, he fought for 16 years, determined never to give up on them. His kids needed him; he needed them. In his way stood an unsympathetic and often hostile court system, incompetent psychologists, antagonistic family members, and our most cherished cultural belief in the...