The year in 1968 and idealistic anti-war activists David and Jill have moved to an abandoned hill farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom to start a commune—hoping to refocus their efforts to build a new society. Joined by a rotating cast of committed activists and fair-weather freeloaders alike, David and Jill are confronted by the harsh environment of northern Vermont, where they discover the complexity of country life, make connections with their new neighbors (good and bad), and struggle to find their place until the fissures blowing apart the larger anti-war movement reach their collective at Zion Farm. Sugaring Down burrows below the surface of sixties counterculture and the New Left to explore the contradictions and passions that lead to the implosion of the protagonists' dreams, and their turns down two very different paths.