Cal, Harlan, and Buddy grow up together in a small Virginia town in the years before the second World War. United by age, proximity, and temperament, they get into--and out of--all the trouble that boys manage to find. They even earn a nickname from a local restaurateur who gives the boys their first jobs and plenty of friendly advice. "Uncle" Vic calls them the Mulligans, because they always seem to find a way through a thicket of trouble--family...