It is 1967. In the Midwestern university city where Lyra lives, the culture is still predominantly the conservative, conformist culture of the fifties. But on the coasts, changes are stirring in consciousness, gender roles, spirituality and the ripples of these changes are beginning to touch the Heartland.
Lyra has given up the promise of a brilliant dance career for marriage and children. Heartbroken and crazed over the deterioration of her marriage and the loss of her art, tormented by inner voices, she runs from her house on an evening in May to a nearby wood. There she finds a...