In 1904, on the Nova Scotia island of Cape Breton, 12-year-old Willie McLean, following the death of his father, joins the coal mines, where he bonds with the working horses underground. His family's mining legacy shapes their lives.

The story of Gloria, a worldly but crabby teen-boy-band manager and Sherman, a morose rural man as they escape from their lives, experience life-changing travel, and against their will, cling to one another. When they fall in love for the first time, it's an impossible situation, because you can't just change your life overnight. Can you?