Northern Borders tells the story of ten year-old Austen Kittredge who is sent by his father to live on his grandparents Vermont farm, where he experiences wild adventures and uncovers long-festering family secrets. Its 1956 and Austen experiences the farm as a place full of eccentric people, especially his stubborn grandparents whose thorny marriage is known as the Forty Years War. Initially feeling stuck in this fractured household, young Austen plans a quick exit but ends up stranded with no choice but to navigate and endure. A humorous and sometimes startling coming-of-age-story, Northern Borders evokes Vermonts wildness, its sublime beauty, a haunted past, and an aura of enchantment.