Eighteen-year-old Raissa and her siblings must flee home after their parents succumb to influenza and their homeland descends into political violence. Raissa's remaining family escapes together under cover of darkness, but passionate, stubborn Raissa feels bound to her home by sweet and sorrowful memories. She risks everything to stay behind. Although her heart lies within her childhood home, a new family forces her out, driving Raissa deep into a mysterious forest. With only animal companions to salve her loneliness, Raissa's displacement and grief drive her to commit an unimaginable crime of maternal longing. A Beautiful Land is a story of family ties strained, severed, and strengthened. It is a story of displacement and the depths to which the maternal imagination stretches.