Graham Barnett

Graham Barnett is a thirteen year old Iowa boy who loves computers and dreams of a life beyond his family's farm and garage. His father Kyle assumes Graham will inherit the work, but Graham feels unheard and peppers Eugene Meltsner with questions about cities and computer stores. The conflict becomes serious when Graham tries to drive to California in the family station wagon with a prize pig in the back seat. After police bring him home, Kyle realizes he hardly knows what his son wants. Eugene helps Graham use his interest constructively by building a computer program for the garage. Curious, capable, and restless, Graham does not reject his family; he needs his own abilities and hopes to be taken seriously within it.