Follow the life of naturalist Mark Warren for the two years after his small farmhouse in the mountains of Southern Appalachia was struck by lightning. After losing his possessions in the devastating fire that followed, he embarked on a “simpler” life of accountability and appreciation, where every chore made perfect sense and every day carried the promise for intimacy with creatures of the wild.

As he continued his life work as an environmental educator, his tipi in the forest was more than the coziest of homes as it became a symbol of commitment for those who studied under his tutelage. This story offers the past, the parts, and practicality of the tipi, but more than that it offers inspiration for those who seek to understand the natural world as man was meant to know it.