Downlanders tells the story of five disillusioned young people who escape the trappings of sedentary urban lives and take off for the Grizzle Peninsula-a 1, 200 mile expanse of steep mountains, impenetrable forest and jagged coastline, reputed to be "last great wilderness adventure."
But this reputation comes with a warning, stated repeatedly in the budget backpacker's guide that frames this dis-adventure story: idealists rarely find the utopia they are looking for.
Ernie is one such young person who is searching for something. With his sort of girlfriend Eva, off they go to the wilderness. Soon, their relationship is more than strained, Eva seeming to stay around for lack of a better plan while Ernie dreams of more than a few ice cold beers.
Chief runs out of luck in the city, and he needs to get away. Far away. But the farther he goes, the more troubles pile up behind him.
Danny follows a woman to the Grizzle Peninsula. Theoretically she's doing some surveying work, but that turns out to be a bust, On the bright side, he lands on his feet with a job as a forest service park attendant.
Fiona Gallagher is similarly lost. But a crash course in being a game warden seems to offer her direction. Unfortunately, that direction points her to teaming up with Danny and chasing Chief across the Grizzle Peninsula.
For all five, instead of offering a solution to their woes, the vast, brutal wilderness forces them to confront their own, and each other's, shortcomings, until it all comes to a head at the end of the world: a place called Grizzletown.