Nine-year-old Daniel Hillman, a musical prodigy on Long Island, knows he’ll be the first preteen in history to write, arrange and perform his own hit album, even though there are many other things he’d like to do. He knows that his older brother Steven will become the first teenager to circumnavigate the globe, his terrible school grades notwithstanding. He knows that his sister Lori is destined to become something great, even though she cries almost every day in school and is an emotional wreck.

What Daniel does not know is that life can get in the way. Parents. Cheaters. Vietnam. Jealousy. Desire. If Daniel’s journey proves anything at all, it’s that life can be as hard and painful as having your insides kicked out by circumstances beyond your control, or as simple and carefree as looking up and making a wish. Maybe both.