Jeremiah and Kurdy go to a town that may hold needed books in a library. Jeremiah finds Red and meets his girlfriend, Maggie, a wheelchair-bound artist who asks Jeremiah to help her fulfill a personal mission. When her father died, Maggie promised to scatter his ashes on the banks of the river where they once lived but, unable to walk, she cannot get there without a vehicle. Jeremiah has a vehicle and agrees to drive them to the river.

When armed zealots come to the library for books to burn, Kurdy and Edgar the librarian try to fend them off. When the other library patrons run off in terror, Kurdy and Edgar lose the battle. Later, Kurdy tells the patrons that had run off that the book burning won't end unless they find the courage to fight for their books, the books an illiterate man is trying to protect for them. Kurdy also begins to teach Edgar how to read.

Jeremiah drives Maggie and Red to the river but finds another obstacle. To get to where Maggie must scatter the ashes, they have to get above the river using an old hand-operated gondola that spans it. Maggie's mission becomes an exercise in courage and physical endurance for both of them.

When the zealots return to the library, they are faced down by a well-armed group of patrons who have found their own way to be courageous.