On Valentine's Day 1985 biologist Stacey O' Brien met a four-day-old baby barn owl
- a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing the owlet had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild. O' Brien then a young assistant in the owl laboratory at Caltech was immediately smitten promising to care for the helpless owlet & give him a permanent home. Wesley is the funny poignant story of their dramatic two decades together. As Wesley grew O' Brien snapped photos of him at every stage recording his life from a helpless ball of fuzz to a playful clumsy adolescent to a gorgeous gold-&-white adult owl with a heart-shaped face & an outsize personality that belied his 18-inch stature. When O' Brien develops her own life-threatening illness the biologist who saved the life of a helpless baby bird is herself rescued from death by the insistent love & courage of this wild animal. Wesley" is a thoroughly engaging heart-warming often funny story of a complex emotional non-human being capable of reason play & most important love & loyalty."