New Song, Second Verse Gerrit and Joan discovered the beauty of second chances when they fell in love. But life isn’t “happily ever after” when the widowed dairy farmer and big-city piano teacher get married. When they move to Chicago to pursue a teaching opportunity for Joan, Gerrit the country boy must find new purpose in an unfamiliar urban world. It’s not an easy change for him, but his friendship with Zhao, a visiting Chinese musician, begins to give him new purpose. Meanwhile, Joan tries to accept her husband for who he is, even as she struggles to find her place as a music professor in this clash between small-town values and big-city ways. In this poignant sequel to The Duet, Joan and Gerrit redefine the meaning of love and home as they learn painful new lessons about mutual sacrifice.