This book is told in a series of linked chapters covering a period of several years during the 1940s. Each story takes place on All Hallows Eve in the rural West Virginia town of Rowlesburg. The central character & narrator is Jimmy Cannon, whose father & older brothers all work for the railroad. Jimmy wants to follow the family tradition but his dad has other ideas. Although written for young people, the writing is very sophisticated--the tenor of the chapters seems to "grow" right along with Jimmy. The author's sense of place and time is excellent--very evocative descriptions of rural W. VA during the war years. This is a book about relationships (family, friends, townspeople) and about traditions.