2016. The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals is in trouble. Ariel discovers that her mother Mona's animal sanctuary in Western Kansas has not only been the target of anti-Semitic hate crimes, it is also for sale, due to hidden financial ruin. Ariel, living a new life in progressive Lawrence, and estranged from her mother for six years, returns to her childhood home-- and finds her first love, a ranch hand named Gideon, still working at the Bright Side. Back in Lawrence, Ariel's fiancé, Dex, sets out to confront Ariel and finds her questioning the meaning of her life in Lawrence-- and whether she belongs with Dex or with someone else, somewhere else. -- adapted from jacket