The book A Place to Belong Why is Paul Miller still alive? Party guests are hanging out the windows, dancing their footprints into the snow, and there’s a couple writhing naked in the furnace room. A For Sale Sign stabs into both Paul’s eight-year old heart and the front lawn of the only home he's ever known. His cold-hearted father wants to move someplace warm and he has no say in the matter. Paul is taken on a disjointed, zigzag between states, from the oranges of Florida to the oranges of California. But Paul doesn’t know why. His father’s tenuous grip on reality becomes as changeable as the landscapes through which they travel. Paul’s simple pleas for understanding are ignored or answered by the back of his Father’s hand. But, Paul won’t let it get to him. He’s an optimist; he’s a fighter. At each stop on their journey, Paul happens into an adventure with a newfound friend. He scales buildings like mountains in Boston and jumps from rooftop to rooftop in Detroit as moral dilemmas battle it out in his thoughts. What is the purpose of evil? Is there truly justice in the world if the fathers of his friends can’t earn enough money to survive without resorting to crime? Paul’s mother suddenly passes away and he’s forced to scurry from his father’s clutches. Life hangs by bus fare, the surprising kindness of a loving family, a filthy motorist with a penchant for young boys, the kiss of a young girl. He returns home… to discover that it no longer exists. In a search for someplace to belong, Paul hits the roads of the South with his thumb out, and his cross-country zigzag begins again. Just when he hits rock bottom, Paul finds guidance in the simple words of a wise fisherman. He is lead back to face his iron-hearted father. He hopes to find a healed man, replenished by time, open to forgiveness, and ready to love. Instead, he sees the results of a life of hatred. Sitting penniless on the side of a California highway, Paul realizes the difference between destiny and self-determination. He chooses a life of love, and he’s set free. Paul has found his place to belong.