Coleman’s parents, Eliot and Sue, meet at Franconia College in the late ‘60’s, marry, and move to Cape Rosier, Maine, where they buy 60 acres from Helen and Scott Nearing, the latter a vigorous octogenarian. Clearing the woods, building their house, growing their food and doing without meat, electricity, running water, etc., they are in the vanguard of “back to the land” and organic farming movements. The bucolic story ends tragically when Melissa’s younger sister Heidi drowns in their pond and both Melissa and her mother feel to blame. Divorce, depression (Mom), mania due to the thyrotoxicosis (Eliot) and multiple mates fill out a story that is moving and real. Beautiful rendering of the ‘70’s, Maine, the single life, and human frailty.