Lakeland, New York, was once a world of bustling mills, proud residents, and miles of ruggedly beautiful coastline. Now it's another small northeastern town whose pulse stopped beating years ago. Close friends Jack Lambeau and Steven Turner find themselves entwined in the town's latest and most promising efforts at revival. Jack is the prodigal son returned; the Ivy League-educated urban-design expert brought back to reinvent Lakeland as a tasteful mecca for tourists and yuppies. Turner is the exiled local reporter who will bear witness to the town’s successes and failures. Between them come Jack’s fiancée Anne--an artist with secrets of her own--and his undisciplined brother Harris, hired to bury the missteps of the past that might derail his brother's plans.