Leaving your childhood home to build a new life is a rite of passage. But what happens when you have to go back?

Self-reliant artist Penelope "Nellie" Simpson has made a place for herself in the New Mexico art scene. But when her father becomes ill, she is forced to leave the life she's built and return to her hometown of Port Edgerton, New York.

Penelope is torn between her New Mexico life and the one she has found for herself back home when she falls in love with her high school friend, Peter Vandegelder. Things become further complicated when startling revelations of the town's history begin unfolding around them. And, as if things weren't tangled enough, a stranger shows up in town whose dreams and aspirations may change the very nature of Port Edgerton.