All Things Flow

Long Summary

All Things Flow is the third and final book of The Sandpoint Trilogy set in northern Idaho; it is the continuing story of the principal characters from Apology to Grouse Creek and Ten Percent Marriage plus a sprinkling of new ones.

Two middle aged new-comers have arrived to live beside Grouse Creek for different reasons: Rhododendron-to enjoy a late-life relationship with Mother Nature; and Elliot-to build a house in the wilderness and then write a book about it for profit. Rhododendron soon discovers that she is confronted by a long suppressed grievance against her husband-a grievance for which she ultimately sees no remedy except to move on with her life.

Nathaniel is again drawn into the adversity that afflicts the world beyond his mountain home when a US Marshal appears at his log house with instructions for him and Esmeralda to pack-up and leave. The result of the marshal's visit is the jailing of Esmeralda and Chico, and the gun-shot wounding of Nathaniel as he escapes into the woods.

Nathaniel's cousin Barry becomes despondent over the untimely death of his wife, a death that has left him with a precocious seven-year-old daughter to parent. One afternoon in a smoke filled blackcap patch, Barry and Rhododendron discover that each has a desperate hunger for the other and that neither is inclined to deny his appetites.

Victoria receives a telephone message from a man who introduces himself as Dennis and tells her that he believes that the two of them could combine their efforts toward a mutual goal; that he has in mind two things: expanding the territory served by The Gallery from the upper five counties of the Idaho Panhandle to the whole wide world; and expanding The Gallery's product line to include all artistic endeavor. Dennis also mentions that Victoria is to consider the inordinate amount of money required for this venture to be no object-she is to leave the money to him.

Thus begins to flow a rapid stream of events: Nathaniel goes to Emily at Arrowhead Point to recuperate from his gun-shot wound and to plan his return to The Old Growth to defend his home. Emily takes advantage of Nathaniel's convalescence to paint his portrait. Barry resigns from the US Forest Service as the result of political chicanery and moves to Washington, DC, to work as the understudy for the senior senator from Idaho. Rhododendron divorces Elliot and moves to Spokane, Washington, to work for The Sierra Club and to be near Barry. Victoria accepts Barry's seven-year-old daughter as her change. Dennis and his life-long lover, Doris, inform Victoria that they want her to become the modern day Lorenzo de' Medici for the entire planet. Victoria is stunned by the radical changes looming before her should she accept Doris and Dennis's financial donation; but she cannot imagine not accepting the opportunity that is hers for the taking.

By the end of the tale, readers have become aware of what Lucretius, the Roman poet and philosopher, had written ...