In the
beginning of the book, Brent is just like any normal teenager who struggles to find his place
among his high school peers. He is perhaps a little self-conscious, but he knows that he has to
appear confident and sophisticated if he wants to impress. At a party, he desperately tries to
talk to a girl he's had his eye on for a while. However, his efforts fall flat when the girl,
Brianna, rebuffs him in front of everyone, and he becomes the laughing stock of the
party.
Greatly humiliated, Brent, with alcohol coursing through his blood,
takes to the wheel and decides to put an end to his miserable life. However, he doesn't die;
instead, he ends up killing Lea Zamora, an eighteen-year-old high school student. When Brent
discovers who he has just killed, he is overwhelmed with guilt and grief. Lea was, by all
indications, a model student. She was a member of the orchestra, a member of the student
council, and an athlete on the track team at Niles North High School. Lea was also an honor
student, a volunteer at the Resurrection Hospital, and an active member of the Filipino
community.
Seemingly overnight, Brent's life changes irrevocably. He's no
longer interested in impressing anyone, and he becomes a loner. Shell-shocked and depressed, he
eats little and converses little. The import of what he's done is shattering, and Brent
struggles to live with himself. In light of Lea's death, he finds it difficult to discuss his
attempted suicide with anyone. He is profoundly horrified that he never once considered the
possibility that his actions could have resulted in someone else's death.
At
this point, we begin to realize that the catastrophe Brent has just experienced is a
life-changing event. As the story progresses, he begins a journey of self-discovery and
redemption that both inspires and encourages him to continue Lea's legacy of goodness and joy.
Brent embarks on his mission when Lea Zamora's mother gives him the seemingly impossible task of
building four whirligigs and depositing them at the four corners of the United States. Although
his parents initially balk at the bold request, Brent decides that he will do everything he can
to honor Lea's memory.
Thus, in selflessly given himself to the tasks at
hand, Brent finds new peace, confidence, and courage, all the things he's never had before.
After he finishes his last whirligig in Maine, Brent is finally able to unburden his feelings to
a sympathetic artist, who supports his project. What she tells him completely changes his
perspective about forgiveness and redemption. The artist assures Brent that he's still a good
person, despite his terrible mistakes. For his part, Brent is touched that, even after revealing
his part in Lea's death to her, her perspective about him doesn't change.
By
the end of the story, Brent comes to understand that Lea's memory will always be a part of him.
When she died, she also managed to touch his life in a way that neither of them could have
envisioned. Brent realizes that he has become the chosen conduit for Lea's joyful legacy; this
realization so heartens him that he becomes hopeful that he will have the confidence to face his
parents, Lea's mother, and a new group of peers in the fall. Unlike the 'old' Brent, the 'new'
Brent is hopeful and enthusiastic about his future.
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