Rail-thin with illness ravaging his body, Evan Reynolds shivers with regret watching his young son Charlie play joyously on a New Jersey beach in winter.

The kid ignorant to the ticking clock of life and death.

The father all too aware of it.

These days, Evan struggles with many painful realities. But none greater than the question of how to convey all the important lessons a father must teach a son – far before the son is ready to learn them.

What follows is an emotional epic through Charlie's life, a heartwarming and powerful vision of the better angels of our nature, and a touching ending beloved by readers everywhere.