Jack's Carousel

After retireing late 1980, Jack settles into a peaceful routine centered around carving wooden ponies for the Community Carousel in Missoula, Montana. He assumes nothing will disturb his comfortable life. Then one wintry night his teenage grandson, Scott, shows up shivering on his doorstep. The boy says he ran away from his home in Boise, Idaho, and he wants to live with Jack. He''s afraid to go back home.

Jack loves him and takes him in, but Scott is shrouded in unanswered questions. Why is he afraid? Are his parents abusing him? Is he afraid of someone in school? Who inflicted the wound on his back?

The answers come slowly with minimal help from Scott''s parents, Jack''s daughter Marah and her husband Vic who are mired in their own problems. Jack will keep his grandson until the boy''s hidden story is revealed and resolved.

Meanwhile, Jack meets an interesting, gifted woman in the paint room at the Carousel. Their budding romance gives him moments of respite from his worries at home.

Then Scott reveals that he is gay.

Jack is stunned and repulsed. He feels overwhelmed, like his life is a merry-go-round spinning out of control. The master craftsman who carves exquisite wooden carousel ponies cannot carve away his family''s problems. Nikolas, his best friend, counsels faith and trust in God. But Jack wants resolution now! Scott must not be gay! Surely God does want Jack to accept his grandson''s desired lifestyle. Does He? Can love and faith overcome Jack''s deep-seated prejudice?