A writer with dwarfism shares the story of his unconventional, though not altogether bad, upbringing as his mother struggled to raise him in the mid-20th century with help from a surrogate father.

This is a story of a man (Walker) living with dwarfism who writes an autobiographical account of his life. Flashbacks show he was conceived by a woman (Parillaud) at the end of WWII as she attempts to smuggle herself to America on a troop ship. Caught, she is put ashore back in her homeland of Ireland where she struggles to bring up her dwarf child. Then comes an ongoing affair with a man (Byrne) who becomes a surrogate father to the boy, teaching him about the stars and planets... and calling him "Frankie Starlight." After that affair she meets a man (Dillon) who takes her and the boy to America, but they are misfits in the prairie lands of the West and soon return home to Ireland where the boy grows to manhood as a writer.—BOB STEBBINS <[email protected]>

This is an enigmatic story of a man (Walker), suffering from dwarfism, who writes an autobiographical account of his life. Flashbacks show how he was conceived by a French woman (Parillaud) at the end of WWII as she attempts to smuggle herself to America on a troop ship. Caught, she is put ashore in Ireland where she struggles to bring up her dwarf child. She has a short affair with Jack Kelly (Byrne), an officer from the ship she stowed away on, who becomes a surrogate father to the boy, teaching him about the stars and planets. Then she meets Terry (Dillon), a drifter who also remembers her from the ship. He takes her and her boy to America, but they are misfits on the western prairie and soon return to Ireland, where the boy grows to manhood as a writer. An interesting twist at the end brings it together beautifully.—Mark Andrew