Gardener of the World: A Family, a Village & a Solar Storm

Sean O'Brien is a retired engineer living off-grid with his family, near a small farm village in Michigan. Sean and his friend Tom, both amateur radio operators, know just enough about solar weather to recognize the profound scale and gravity of a power outage occurring one clear day in March. A solar, coronal mass ejection (CME) has stripped all modern conveniences from a modern society. It has forced everyone affected, to reflect on their life experiences and skills, and question the unthinkable. Fortified by the eternal wisdom of his wife Kate and the sagacious enthusiasm of daughter-in-law Ling, Sean feels justified in approaching the residents of South Branch with his knowledge, hoping to convince them that this particular power outage will be a very prolonged, survival challenge. Sean is reassured by the initial response from the village residents, and his family is drawn into the community's rapidly expanding survival effort, while reaction to the outage goes poorly elsewhere. Violence threatens the village twice but is dealt with by the creative tactics of prepared residents with the guidance of a local combat veteran. Good-natured bonds begin to develop between the family and village residents as they set forth to use their traditions, wits, and resourcefulness to attempt to endure as much as a year without electricity or any outside assistance.