JEN GHASTIN

In the shadows of the towering redwoods at University of California Santa Cruz, college freshman Jules leads an eclectic group of fellow students known as the Sun-Greeters in a quest to solve a campus riddle. The motley crew decide to rebuild Elfland, a campus hangout of yester-year. But when Jules falls to her death from Tree 9, the legendary 150-foot Douglas Fir, the quest takes a haunting turn. Jules becomes stuck in the life-between-lives and watches as her friends struggle to find meaning in her death and also to realize their place in the larger world. With the war for oil looming, the group begins to splinter: one joins the Navy, another becomes an activist, and all are forced into shifting alliances. Told from a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the story follows each member of the Sun-Greeters as they grapple with romance, sexual identity, unplanned pregnancy, addiction, radical activism, and finding their purpose in the scheme of it all. When one of the Sun-Greeters is arrested, the group must put aside their differences and return to the path Jules set out for them. They find that the answer to the campus riddle is more elusive—and much more personal to each of them than they ever expected. Ultimately, the Sun-Greeters come to appreciate the power of collective action and the depths of friendship that bind them together.