daniel ford has 30 days to live accused of the horrific murder of his best friend nathan 12 years before he has exhausted all appeals and now faces the long walk to the electric chair all he can do is make peace with his god father john rousseau is the man to whom the last month of daniels life has been entrusted all the two men have left to do is rake over the last ashes of fords existence so he begins to tell his story beginning with his first meeting with nathan aged 6 on the shores of a lake in 1952 through first loves vietnam the death of kennedy and finally their flight from the draft which ended in nathans brutal murder