When James Elgin opens his clock museum, he only wants to survive after being laid off. Instead, he saves his entire town. As tourists descend on What Cheer, other businesses in the depressed farm area adopt a clock theme and soon, What Cheer is on the map, providing welcome relief for travelers moving through monotonous Iowa. Raised by an abusive mother, James felt his first connection to clocks when he was locked in the root cellar, an alarm clock his only company. The Home is a haven for thousands of clocks, which James restores. He believes every clock has its own soul. While repairing the town's clock tower, it suddenly chimes, bursting James' eardrums. James descends into a tickless vacuum. He must reach for human hands. Every other chapter is a short story, tales of the clocks before they came into the Home. This is the story of redemption, of a man who should have died at the hands of his mother, but insisted on surviving. It is the story of his ultimate recovery and...