Just after the Great Depression, William Maxie Davis Jr., or Buddy, was born into a very poor family in Bladen County, one of North Carolina's poorest rural locales. Buddy's relationship with God and his hardships temper his character and prepare him to face a life of poverty and to envision the American dream.

Experience Buddy's heartbreaking moments that show some of the problems of undereducated and malnourished individuals, and enjoy lighthearted moments as he explores nature. Buddy's journey takes him from a poor sharecropping farm to the heights of London and the war in Vietnam, from near death of malnutrition as a small child to retirement as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

Despite the odds, Buddy goes on to become an attorney, pledging to help the poor and the elderly. Sunrise, Sunset: A Memoir chronicles Buddy's struggles-and being saved by God's grace-to make his American dream come true.