Part 1

It’s 7 a.m. in Elyria, Ohio, and the day on Ely Square starts with the first pulse of the neon sign in the window of Donna’s Diner. The regulars will arrive soon, and Donna Dove, the resilient proprietor, will ignite the grill that she seems to have just turned off. It’s her own business, her calling, run on a shoestring in a city that has seen better times and hopes it will again.