James Edwards was born in the post construction era, 14 years after the Panama Canal was built. In the book we see him as he goes through different stages of life in a town that also changes with events and time. We follow him as he transitions from childhood to adolescence to adulthood and we get to experience the personal challenges, setbacks, and, as a young adult, the consequence of a choice he makes due to circumstances at the time. His life is affected, and, in many ways, shaped by that choice; and though it cleared a pathway for him, nevertheless, it caused him to pay a very high price. He goes on to achieve material success abroad and joins with other expatriates in noble causes to honor and celebrate the sacrifices and contributions of their fathers and mothers, whom the world had forgotten; but, in the end, there lingered with him, still, an emotional and psychological attachment to the past. Not only does he remember the town that is vanished, his forebears, his birthplace, the sites, the favorite places, his childhood companions, the laughter, tears and happy events, but there is also the memory of a promise unfulfilled. Perhaps, this is best illustrated by the sight of a solitary rose lying on an empty park bench as the story comes to its end
