Summary

After summitting Two Medicine Peak in southern Colorado with her friend Trey Jantz, Lorilee Shay asks to read him some Gary Snyder poetry. Trey refuses, but is so moved by the five words Lorilee reads him anyway that they make love instantaneously. Later that night, Lorilee suggests that Trey’s physical movements while he rock climbs are themselves a form of poetry, and encourages him to document them. Trey is so moved that Lorilee understands the beauty of his craft that they make love yet again.

Shortly after, Lorilee and Trey are married on the side of a mountain. They struggle to make ends meet since their careers—songwriter and free-climber, respectively—are not very lucrative. To make matters worse, the coal industry moves into the Pipestone, CO region and starts to poison and pollute the air. The couple begins...