Grassy Creek

Luke Sparks is a pediatric oncologist, determined to find the cure for leukemia.However, this dream is elusive and he fears he has lost his passion for medicine, his purpose for living, and has failed every patient he has not been able to 'save'. He even contemplates if his own life is worth living. But that thought is thwarted by Joe, the 8 year old patient he is bringing with him for some time away from the cancer treatments as Luke is returning to his childhood home of Grassy Creek, in the mountain town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina. He is seeking a respite and hopes of rekindling his passion, his purpose, and his life. Back home, Grassy Creek and rain, perhaps healing rain, stir his memory, and he returns to the summer of 1960 when he was fifteen and his dream began. The summer of 1960 starts as planned, with Luke and his best friend, Raisin and nothing but time. But when Raisin's girl cousin, Joey, shows up for the summer, his plans and his life change. Joey is everything the girls Luke has known before were not. Not only can she throw a crab apple farther than he can, she is intelligent and confident. She quotes Thoreau, telling the boys she does not 'want to realize when it is her turn to die, that she has not lived'. Thus, the three embark on a summer of mountain adventures, seeking to really live. Joey is a free spirit: adventuresome, yet contemplative; compassionate, yet reckless, and Luke is completely enamored. Joey learns that summer of the j...