This unconventional drama is, based on a novel by Howard Frank Mosher, is set in Vermont in 1927.

Rip Torn is perfectly cast as Noel Lord, a cantankerous old logger who refuses to sell his property to a power company building a hydroelectric dam. He believes to do so would be to sell his soul. He truly loves the land. Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves) plays his idiosyncratic companion who knows in her heart that Lord's pride will lead to a terrible fall.

Director and cowriter Jay Craven pays tribute to this flinty couple's desperate struggle for survival in the face of overwhelming odds.