Raised on tales of cowboys and pirates, eleven-year-old Reuben Land has little doubt that miracles happen all around us. Reuben was born with no air in his lungs, and it was only when his father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that his lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects that his father can overturn the laws of nature. The quiet midwestern life of the Lands is upended when Davy, the oldest son, kills two marauders who have come to harm the family. The morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from jail, and the Lands set out in search of him. Meanwhile, a federal agent is trailing the Lands, convinced they know of Davy's whereabouts. Sprinkled with playful nods to biblical tales, beloved classics such as Huckleberry Finn, the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the westerns of Zane Grey, Peace Like A River unfolds like a revelation.