More than a decade after the end of WWII, the joie de vivre of the Cajun-French culture returns to southwest Louisiana. Spirits are buoyed, and for twelve-year-old Walt LaCour, life is idyllic—except for the caustic relationship with his father. A discovery of a paternity scandal makes Walt wonder if it's true that a German POW could be his real father. The days before the storm, Walt and his family try to protect his friend's Stradivarius violin from being stolen until Hurricane Audrey hits taking with her nearly 500 lives and every shred of normalcy Walt had ever called his own.