The Lincoln Highway, a suspenseful tale which questions the “balances” humans demand from life, is constructed using eight different points of view. The novel consists of ten sections, and a variety of characters are used within each section to depict the events from diverse perspectives.

The story opens in 1954, when Emmett Watson, the protagonist, is released early from his sentence at a juvenile detention facility where he has served time for contributing to the accidental death of another local boy. Emmett’s father has recently died, and the family farm in Morgen, Nebraska, is in foreclosure following years of his father’s poor business decisions. Since Emmett’s mother left the family many years before these conflicts, there is no one else to care for Billy, Emmett’s eight-year-old brother. Emmett is granted leniency because of his challenging family circumstances, which is a particular testament to his honorable character.

After being dropped off at the family farm, Emmett is almost immediately asked to sign over the farm to the bank. He does so willingly, eager to take Billy and begin their life together in an altogether different environment. He soon discovers, however, that two fellow inmates, Duchess and Woolly, hitched a ride with the unsuspecting warden by hiding in his trunk; they ask Emmett to join them on an adventure to New York, where they hope to claim Woolly’s inheritance of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars (approximately $1.6 million in today’s market).

Although Emmett declines the offer to join them and instead plans to drop them off on his way out of town with Billy, Duchess steals Emmett’s car, stranding him in an unfamiliar town. Emmett realizes that they are surely headed for New York as Duchess planned and that he must go there himself to reclaim his car.

Emmett and Billy are in a particular bind because all of Emmett’s money is still in the stolen car. They are therefore forced to hitch a ride on a train in order to reach New York as quickly as possible. Billy, who is convinced that their mother is waiting for them in San Francisco, wants to reach the city by the Fourth of July because he believes she will be in attendance at the fireworks display there.

Aboard the train, Emmett temporarily leaves Billy alone for a while; Emmett wants to locate some food and scampers across the top of the cars until he spots leftovers. While he is gone, Billy is confronted by a vile man who calls himself a pastor and who tries to steal Billy’s coin collection. Billy is rescued by a man named Ulysses, who throws the thief from the train and listens intently as Billy shares the story of the Great Ulysses from his book about heroes and adventurers. Ulysses bonds with Billy through this tale of loss and redemption and then scolds Emmett upon his return for leaving the child alone in such a dangerous place. Serving as a guide and protector, he takes the brothers to a camp when they reach New York and offers them nourishment and rest.

Woolly visits the home of his older sister Sarah, the closest thing to a true place of residence that he has. She has begun converting his room into a nursery for the baby she is expecting, and Woolly doesn’t begrudge this decision. He later meets her at FAO Schwarz, a favorite spot from their childhoods, and purchases a huge stuffed animal for Sarah’s baby. The light mood continues when Sarah agrees to have tea with her brother “for old time’s sake.”

Emmett tracks down Duchess and Woolly,...