After a lifetime`s struggle with alcohol, critical neglect & depression, in 1840 the nature poet John Clare is incarcerated. The asylum, in London`s Epping Forest, is run on the reformist principles of occupational therapy. At the same time, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves nearby & became entangled in the life of the asylum. This historically accurate, intensely lyrical novel, describes the asylum`s closed world & Nature`s paradise outside the walls: Clare`s dream of home, of redemption, of escape.