In the pastoral comfort of rural Wisconsin, 1940, 'Earwig' Gunderman navigates life with a distinctive perspective. Shielded by Jimmy, his protective elder brother, Earwig experiences his world with an innocence and simplicity that reveal deep familial bonds and the looming disruption of war. His observations yield poignant insights into his mother’s melancholy and his father's isolation. As Jimmy departs to fight and returns forever changed, Earwig grapples with the familial upheaval, learning to cope with the irrevocable transformations brought by war and time.