David French picked up the newspaper in the comfort of his penthouse in Philadelphia, and read about a soldier - a father of two - who was wounded in Iraq. Immediately, he was stricken with a question: why him and not me

This is the story of what happens when a person - rather a family - answers the call to serve their nation. David was a 37 year old father of two, a Harvard Law graduate and president of a free speech organization. In other words, he was used to pushing pencils not toting M16s.

His wife Nancy was raising two children and writing from home. She was worrying about field trips and playdates, not about her husband going to war.

HOME AND AWAY chronicles not just a soldier at war, but a family at war - a husband in Iraq, a wife and children at home, greeting each day with hope and fear, facing the challenge with determination, tears, and more than a little joy.