When thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of the United States' airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than six thousand displaced travelers.

Roxanne and Clarke Loper were forced to delay their homecoming from a lengthy and exhausting trip to Kazakhstan where they had adopted a daughter. Hannah and Dennis O'Rourke kept vigil over the phone receiving updates from family on the search for their son, Kevin, who was among the missing firefighters at the World Trade Center. George Vitale, a New York state trooper who was returning from a trip to Dublin, struggled to locate his sister Patty who worked in the Twin Towers. A family of Russian emigrants on their way to the Seattle area to begin a new life dealt with the uncertainty of conditions in their future home.

The people of Gander were asked to aid and care for these distraught travelers, as well as thousands more, and their response was truly extraordinary. Oz Fudge, the town constable, searched all over Gander for a member of one of the flight crews so that he could give her a hug as a favor to her sister, a fellow law enforcement officer who managed to reach him by phone. Bonnie Harris, Vi Tucker, and Linda Humby, members of a local animal protection agency, crawled into the cargo holds of the jets to feed and care for all of the animals that were on the flights. Hundreds put their names on a list of people willing to take passengers into their homes and give them a chance to get cleaned up and relax.

The Christopher Award-winning The Day the World Came to Town is a timeless, and positively heartwarming account of the citizens of Gander and the surrounding communities, and the unexpected guests who were sheltered by their exemplary kindness.