Amy Barnes, a high school English teacher from Hawai'i, and Paul Rideau, a Vermont farmer, lead ordinary lives dedicated to their families and their work, but each nurses a quiet passion for creative expression—Paul in painting and Amy in poetry. When their personal worlds fracture, they each struggle to find their way through crushing loss and grief. Their creative pursuits help them heal as well as reimagine their lives as authentic selves.

For fans of Ethan Joella's A Quiet Life, The Red Wheelbarrow is a quiet, literary story that reminds us of the power of art to transform, of love and decency to triumph, and of hope to endure.