"Everyone in town believes that gold was once found in the river outside Harmony, Nebraska. Once in a while you'd see a would-be miner hiking along the banks of the river, stooping to pan occasionally. Brightest of the class of 1992 but unsure what to do with her life, Emily Zimmerman stays home, compelled by her quest to find traces of the gold that put Harmony on the map. While employed in the local nursing home, Emily discovers a world of routine death, regret, and senility underlined with dark humor and the seeds of deepest hope. Meanwhile, the key to her mystery is locked inside the memory of an old man who has traveled, studied, written, and forgotten more than Emily has ever known"--Cover, page [4].