Soldier, son, lover, husband, breadwinner, churchgoer, Henry Maxwell has spent his whole life trying to live with honor. A native Pittsburgher and engineer, he's always believed in logic, sacrifice, and hard work. Now, seventy-five and retired, he feels the world has passed him by. It's 1998, the American century is ending, and nothing is simple anymore. His children are distant, their unhappiness a mystery. Only his wife Emily and dog Rufus stand...

Young Winnie Foster, stifled by the formality of her proper life and her domineering mother, escapes into the woods only to get lost. Her magical summer begins when she meets Jesse Tuck. Jesse is full of life and adventure and Winnie falls in love. The Tuck family has a powerful secret-- a spring that holds the magic of everlasting life. Now Winnie must choose whether she wants to live life as she knows it or drink from the spring.