The Pine Man

The Pine Man is a lavishly descriptive trip that pairs the beauty of love with the beauty of the natural world and offers scenic views of both. It is a story about youth and deceit, murder and mystery. It also touches on mental illness and those struggles, but mostly it is about love. It is about the intense new love that can be so blinding that it is often misunderstood. The kind of love that can propel two people onward amongst all that is fraught with our existence on this earth. Joey is an intelligent but unsure college sophomore in the process of shedding the last lazy days of his youth. His stop in Pine River dramatically speeds up that process. What was meant to be a quick break to have lunch and fuel up turns into an enveloping adventure the moment he lays eyes on Riley, a beautifully intriguing girl who seems both so at home and entirely out of place in the quaint town of Pine River, WI. Immediately his world sharpens as he is drawn in to this remarkable place and it’s unique cast of characters. He meets a genuine group of friends who welcome him into their ranks in a way that surprises Joey who has spent the better part of his later youth feeling as though he is not really included by anyone. The warm-hearted and jovial nature of their youthful exuberance soon becomes complicated as unusual things start to happen. Before anyone can begin to connect the dots a shocking act throws the community into turmoil. Lines are drawn, suspicions are treated as fact, and Riley and Joey are caught in the middle of it. All too soon they are pulled into the turbidity and chaos that lies on the fringes of this small town. Whether or not their connection will ignite or unravel in the fray depends on a complex web of actions and events seemingly beyond their control. What they do know is that as their initial imprint becomes more enduring, they will do everything within their power to move themselves closer to one another…