When a decorated professor's past confronts him in the form of a daughter he didn't know he had, Casey walks back through his memories of his youth to discover how they shape his present.

At 66 years old, Casey feels comfortably satisfied in his life. For the last 40-odd years, at least, he's been a professor, a law-abiding citizen, and a happily married family man-and as such, assumed he'd "made it safely to life's home stretch."

And then he receives an email: You don't know me. I barely know where or whether to begin. Beth is my mom. I suppose technically you are my father. But in reality - I never had one. -Maggie

Thus begins a tumultuous and reflective spiral into Casey's past. Memories are triggered by a cryptic email from a woman claiming to be his daughter. Events from his college days that were spent in an old, rented farmhouse that was host to the drug culture of those days come back to him. Casey meanders through personal realizations, and the meaning of many of those events were not completely understood until now. Casey takes steps forward to better understand how his choices then affect his life now.

Will Casey respond to Maggie-and will that line of communication open for good? What happened to Beth, and how will Colette, Casey's wife of 30 years, take the news that he has a nearly 40-year-old daughter? How will he tell his college-aged daughter that she's not his only child anymore?

Fraught with family drama, tales from the past, and an interesting storyline make Leaving Iowa worth reading.