A woman walks into nature for inspiration ... and sees the future.  She takes time to observe the movement of a feather, whitecaps on water, laundry airing outdoors. Through her eyes we also see the world decades later: noisier, more populous, the landscape cluttered with housing and refuse. A man finds privacy in the forest, a sailor rolls in the surf, two housemaids take a break from laundry detail, a pair crosses class lines near a tiny family cemetery. These six characters are revealed to us in the past, bound by gender and class, then re-visited as their counterparts in the future, in surroundings that mirror the past. Life goes on as the land changes; people intrude while others seek sanctuary.