A young man returns to his hometown to mourn the reasons he left. An abused spouse copes with a lifetime of bullying in identifying with the lead character from an independent film. A political prisoner is snatched from a firing squad to find himself exiled in an obscure land. A family flees the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, using magic as a tool to survive.

The Northern Line is a collection of stories about dreamers of what was mislaid, lost souls seeking redemption, sudden opportunities and missed chances. The stories are of people grappling with a world of unexpected changes, striving for stability in uncertain, and often surreal, times.