Maura Jaeger has hidden herself in the hills of rural Pennsylvania, teaching English at a small state college and rigorously avoiding all relationships. When her father dies, she must return to the small town where she grew up, confronting ghosts at every turn: her beloved brother Colin, whose tour of duty in Vietnam changed him forever; the town that shunned her family when her brother Zach fled to Canada to dodge the draft; the lovers who left her behind; and the family that has exiled her for her lesbianism. Forced to re-examine the childhood that she has fought so hard to forget, Maura must grant herself amnesty and begin to live life on her own terms.