Edson, New Hampshire, is a typical New England mill town, small and hardscrabble. Almost all the mills have closed down - crumbling reminders of a long-gone industrial era - and everybody left knows everybody else's business. It's a town where people come of age with dreams of leaving, fearing dead-end factory jobs or worse; some end up returning, once those dreams have been exhausted and there's nowhere else to go.

Henry Corvine first came to Edson as a promising young musician, and didn't look back when he left. But after fifteen years of tough gigs, odd jobs, and bad luck, his career has stalled, his marriage failed, his self-confidence disappeared. So he again finds himself in Edson - on the verge of giving up completely or starting all over, among old friends and new lovers. There are Caroline and Rachel, rooming-house neighbors who pursue their youthful independence in very different ways.

Pope Johnson, an ambitious performer following in Henry's footsteps maybe a little too closely. And then there's Tyler Beckett, who's finally enjoying - and willing to share - a hard-won success.