It is 2010, Alyssa and Richard Bradshaw are living in West Severance, Vermont, in a house they built beside a rocky brook on land they bought from the Martel family. The Martels live next door on a farm that has been Martel land for generations. The two families get along, even though the Bradshaws are transplants from Connecticut, and the Martels have been Vermonters forever. There are many generations that are a part of this mix, Monika, Alyssa’s 84-year-old mother, Danny, Sam, Martel’s grandson, and lots of others. This is the story of what life throws at people and how they deal with it, not exciting, but real, a window into the lives of ordinary Americans. This is a book about the issues we all face in our lives and particularly at the end of our lives. This book balances life and death, dark and light. It puts a grim subject in context in modern Vermont.