Traveling the roads and highways through the islands, mountains, and plateaus of British Columbia, Rosemary Neering talks to a fascinating cross-section of people in the small towns she visits. In coffee shops, post offices and living rooms, she gathers their stories with the inquisitive ear of the traveler and sets them down with a storyteller's wisdom. When Rosemary Neering talks to former urbanites used to having the world at their door, they feel that life is more complete in places where people don't lock their doors at night and where everyone knows your life better than you do. But in many resource-based communities where the fisheries, forests, and mines are increasingly controlled by large corporations, there is resentment towards urban approaches to rural problems. As she travels, a compelling portrait is formed of a world often hidden to city dwellers.