Cross Country is a vignette from the story-within-in-a-story in the novel "The Chimera of Prague". In this story, Dani comes to Joseph's final race at the McQuaid invitational, one of his biggest races of the year. His father is the coach, and Joseph is the captain of the team, yet it is going to be Daniu who steals the show. The story is set in Rochester, New York.

The story features a turning point in the relationship between Joseph and Dani. She's not willing to be the butt of Joseph's jokes anymore; is it an opportunity for them to become closer, or a sign of things to come?