Based on Jim Harrison's best-selling book "Farmer." Joseph Svenden,47, lives on the family farm with his ailing mother and works as a teacher in a two-room schoolhouse alongside Rosealee, his sweetheart and the widow of his best friend. Joseph, who lacks a college degree, learns that he will lose his teaching position at the end of the year as his town's school district develops. Meanwhile, he is tempted by Catherine, a new student in his class, who is 17 years old. Joseph's affair with Catherine and subsequent loss of his teaching position compel him to reflect on his previously mundane existence and determine how he wishes to live the remainder of it.