Karen runs away from her problems to a small village in the mountains of Colorado and is left alone with her thoughts against the backdrop of the beauty and cruelty of nature. When a fire destroys everything she had, she withdraws even more into herself. But, trying to reconcile the thirst for loneliness with the need for society, Karen finds her way back and becomes happy. This inspiring memoir is a tribute to the author's forty seasons of living in the mountains, and a declaration of love to the unpredictable and beautiful forces of nature.