Welcome to Superior, Wisconsin, home to a declining population, often-dismal weather, and dying ethnic communities. Despite the ore dust blanketing the city, miracles occur here. In the title story, a Jewish train track inspector discovers a magical place behind the house of a lonely Polish schoolteacher; in Closing Time, an accordion player at the local VFW finds an appreciative audience in a disillusioned German war bride; in The Moon of the Grass Fires, a retired flour mill worker has a vision of goodness and life's meaning as he walks near the East End's abandoned ore docks.