The Trumpeter Swan

The story is set mostly in Virginia at the end of World War I. American soldiers are returning home from war and one of them is Randy Paine. He is disillusioned after fighting for a worthy cause to find that the rest of the world is back to business as usual: making money and clambering for power. He is not ready to join back in with their temporal goals, as his soul has gone through the valley and survived. But the girl he loves shows him the beauty in the common place.