A large fish, a member of an ancient species called Bowfin, is trapped in a water hole beside a river running through a country farm. Two boys, ages 14 and 18, want to free the fish before it starves. The story begins with the younger boy, Christopher, groping his way through the night toward a barn on the farm. He is recovering from a violent beating at his school the day before. He is seized and dragged into the barn by the older boy, Jesse, and the two boys get to know each other in the barn that night. Jesse has made a dip net from tree branches and scraps of clothing from his...