A young girl narrates her family's move from the city to the country, where they have bought a piece of land and live in a trailer while they build a house from the ground up, with help from relatives and friends.

The account of a years spent building a small post-and-beam cabin in the hills of western Maine tells a deeper story about brotherly bonds, home and nature. It explores the satisfaction of building and of physical labor. Inspired by his From the Ground Up New York Times blog, this is the author's memoir about building and brotherhood. Confronted with the disappointments and knockdowns that can come in middle age-job loss, the death of his mother,...