Laura DiStefano is torn between dreams of a new counter-cultural life and the undertow of a dysfunctional family. Laura DiStefano has flunked out of the University of Massachusetts just as the counterculture reaches its peak in the 1970s.
Reluctantly, Laura returns to live back home with her parents and sister in the blue collar town she so hoped to escape. But she soon learns that her sister, a fierce survivor of a childhood attack who has rather foolishly gotten pregnant, needs Laura's help when she unexpectedly falls for a local guy.

Even though the school offers to reinstate Laura's scholarship, leaving home again suddenly gets harder. As the conflicts in her threaten to drag her under, Laura becomes agoraphobic. How can she reconcile her divided loyalties and find her genuine life?