Indefinitely idled

the long version

"Ascension Forestry Resources announced today the indefinite idling of its paper mill in Balneal, Nova Scotia. The Balneal Mill employed close to three hundred people ..." Both poignant and comical, Hal Stevens' story resonates with compassion for the men and women whose lives are set adrift when big industries close. When Hal loses his job of 23 years, his marriage is quick to follow. His daughter, Brandy is caught in a whirlpool of dissolving options as they all struggle to stay afloat. Toss in a beautiful lesbian with a broken heart, a Korean foreign exchange student, and a divorced pensioner with a dying cat and you have rural Nova Scotia coping in difficult times, with humor, resilience, road kill, karaoke and rain ... at times heavy.