Andy Catlett's old age is a nightmare, and he feels like he has grown to know too much. In his old age, Andy decided to return to the "home place" of his youth, the old farm land in Port William. He bears witness to what humanity's failure to properly steward and husband the natural world means. He believes that it means a diminished world, and one that might end forever. It means the end of a boyhood freedom found in solitude and companionship in the countryside. Andy's disposition is unfurled through his reminiscences about his boyhood and education; a time before the world was industrialized and dominated by tech and automobiles. After his grandfather dies, he moves in with his grandmother. Andy hangs out with workers, skips school, hitchhikes, fishes, takes care of his grandmother, does chores, and climbs trees. He fondly remembers the immense freedom he felt after shirking his chores to try to catch squirrels as a boy.