The Colony is in mourning. The residents of the Hudson Valley farming collective share a close-knit life and a vision for remaking urban neighborhoods with the skills they are learning. They have also shared a loss so devastating they fear the shock will undermine all their efforts. In a scheme to unburden themselves, they turn to storytelling. Through their heartrending accounts, we view blighted American cities from society's fringes - from the squatter homes of Detroit to the embattled streets of Philadelphia. We meet a veteran who returns home to find his neighborhood walled off into a ghetto, an architect who drafts blueprints from the dreams of the dispossessed, and take a hellish subway ride through a dystopian New York. In their tales, we witness the tug of war between blame and forgiveness and, ultimately, the cathartic power of storytelling.