On a nontypical day in 1946 North Carolina, local schoolteacher Joe Robert Kirkman is dealing with a series of incidents: an unfortunate encounter with a treed bobcat, a courageous rescue of a drowning child, discovering the humanity of the black schoolhouse janitor, trying to get a goat off the roof, and several unsettling metaphysical discussions. Most troubling is the late afternoon meeting with the local school board -- called over Joe Robert's...