In the summer of 1967, Sebastian (" Bass" ) Ramsay is a young man content to be growing up secure in the love of his parents and companionship of his first cousin, his feet firmly planted on the fertile soil of their families' dual farms in mid-Michigan. His life begins to change after a chance encounter with an itinerant family convinces his cousin to run away from home. Then, his mother succumbs to illness. A long-time friend struggles to assume his sexual identity and is attacked for it. Suddenly, the continents have shifted and new, unknown worlds have emerged. By spending time with a retired and often cantankerous cartographer, Bass starts to put the puzzle pieces of the mappemonde together and, in doing so, learns to find his place on this Earth.