In the mid 60s, Joe from the Bronx and Beth the orphan escape New York City for Canada, hoping to leave their past lives — and American politics —behind them. At a peace march on their way north, their fortunes intertwine with the fate of Dick, a Royal Military College Officer Cadet.

Armed with naïveté, optimism and a little weed, the three homestead on Nova Scotia's North Mountain. Unlike many of the fair-weather hippies of summer, they make it through the first winter with a little help from their hardier neighbours.

Steve, a man damaged by the Vietnam War, shatters their peaceful existence in one night of rape and violence. When he disappears, the Mountain folk hope that peace will return to their little world. Birth, marriage, death, divorce, and fresh relationships complicate their lives. But even as they gradually resolve the consequences of their own pasts, they become increasingly aware that Steve may return to destroy all they have achieved.