Annie is still a young woman when she comes to West Virginia. The time is the early 1970's when many young people were leaving the cities and seeking a rural lifestyle. Although her introduction to the state comes in the form of a music festival, she soon graduates to permanent status as a member of a local commune. In the years that follow she learns many lessons-some bitter, some sweet-about human interaction under such conditions. Interwoven throughout her odyssey is Clarisse, an enigmatic Rastafarian iconoclast who is part mentor and part object of her desire. Although Clarisse has a bad habit of going on walk-abouts and disappearing for months on end, he continues to influence Annie's thoughts from afar and is even there for her when she enters into a disastrous relationship with one bad-assed outlaw by the name of Jesse James. This is a story of opposites and one woman's attempt to find her way through the labyrinth that leads to adulthood and autonomy.