The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job in the coal industry, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

A source of strength for her neighbors and friends, midwife Rachel Watkins finds herself intensely drawn to a disfigured veteran who does odd jobs around the house, an enigmatic stranger who seems so mysterious yet so familiar.

Cub reporter Joe Talbert, Jr. investigates the murder of a man with the same name as him in a small town in Minnesota and discovers the deceased was a loathsome lowlife who may be his father.