Gaard grew up in the San Fernando Valley in California, then after 20 years, moved to Minneapolis to find her “roots.” (Minneapolis is where her dad was from.) She also attended graduate school in Minneapolis and met her partner, Shawn, there. The book follows the author’s search through the three places she has lived to identify the place she will call home. “The place I would call home would have its own renewable water source, and not be a blight on the environment; cities like Phoenix, Palm Springs and Los Angeles were immediately ruled out,” she writes.

Gaard takes you through her relationship with the water that surrounds her three homes, followed by the culture, the economy and her various physical homes. But the theme of water reverberates throughout the book.

Gaard pairs her prose with hard and fast research about the logging business in Washington, along with the effect it has on the area around it. The research is well-blended and not at all dull throughout the stories. Whimsical at times in her recollections, Gaard maintains a sense of composure throughout her work, which weaves her life in California, Minnesota and now, Washington, and the relation the three places have with each other.