A family heals in unexpected ways in the wake of senseless tragedy Alexander Porter is on the phone with his six-year-old son when he is struck by lightning and killed. It is a freak accident, without meaning or justice. Alex's sudden death disintegrates his family. His mother takes off for a new life in California. His father descends into kleptomania. His ex-wife begins selling makeup door to door. His sister mourns by taking Sam, Alex's son, on a journey into the family's past, putting her own life on hold. Young Sam, who heard his own father die, has gone silent. Narrated from a symphony of perspectives, Waiting to Vanish is the story of a family coping with devastating loss as they begin the brave, bruising business of getting on with it. In the process, they discover their own paths through life.