In the summer of 1974, the eccentric Groden family lives an off-the-grid existence in rural New Mexico. Daughter Bo (young VALENTINA de ANGELIS, adult AMY BRENNEMAN) uses her imagination and creativity to explore the world around her, while her mother Arlene (JOAN ALLEN) holds the family together. Her father Charley (SAM ELLIOTT), however, has fallen into a deep depression. One day, an IRS auditor named William Gibbs (JIM TRUE-FROST) arrives to determine why the Grodens haven't filed their income tax for so long and is suspicious of their ability to live with so little. While there, William falls into a fever and later awakens a changed man who sticks around on their property.