Fifteen-year-old Virgil Foggy is trying to survive on a failing dairy farm in Minnesota. Virgil's mother is pregnant-an unwelcome addition to the family. Virgil's older brother joins the army and goes to war, but warfare is also close to home, much of it between Virgil and his stepfather. The Law of Falling Bodies is a novel about the schizophrenic, ubiquitous, and cyclical nature of all wars within and between men, women, and nations.