It's 1966, Christmas Day, the Missouri Ozarks. Johnny Bell, not quite sixteen, is found in a snowdrift by a poor farm family named Ogletree. It seems he's an orphan, but like many a Dickens character Johnny does have a heritage, part of which is an instinct for hard work. He learns the value of friendship from a dairy goat named La, a shrewd old "hillbilly" named Virgil, and a humble ex-con named Clyde. He learns about religion from a well-meaning preacher who knew his father, an evangelist who became a war hero. Through his agonized, often comic travails, Johnny finds an entry into the great world of love, adventure, and mystery. An earlier version of The Ballad of Johnny Bell was self-published as Goat Boy of the Ozarks in 2011.