The setting is deep in a field of wildflowers, far from any city. It is during the Alaska oil boom, and two anachronistic romantics have heeded the call of the wild. Kate has come from Hawaii, 'to see a winter.' Inspired by the cultural revolution of the sixties, she dreams of a Utopia. Tim, a soldier returning from Vietnam, simply wants to build a log home and live life the way he wishes. They elope.

Their epic wilderness experiment takes Emerson's vision of Transcendentalism through self-reliance, and puts meat on it, while the outcome of this odyssey calls to mind the reports of "seeing the elephant" by many who traveled west by covered wagon in the mid-19th century.

This is Historical Fiction. Photographs and letters written from the pioneer wife to her mother detailing the adventurous newlyweds' pre-technological lifestyle were treasured, and eventually handed down to Atwood Cutting by her grandmother. The nonfiction narrative is likely to evoke disbelief in young adults and fond memories in seniors, while nature lovers and DIY souls will lap up the innovative transportation and construction solutions described.

If the wilderness calls your name, and you dream of running toward its perfection but can't clear your schedule, then you are the right reader for this trilogy about pioneering before there were cellphones.