With her preschoolers gone for the day, Julie's classroom was peaceful and orderly - words that didn't describe her life. Devoted as she is to her work, a privately-run co-operative is its own little world. In it Julie often finds herself threading a hazardous path through parental games and conflicting wants. She tries to be a peacemaker but the 1984 economic recession stresses families in the school and mirrors global unrest. Is peace possible? Julie is only twenty-four and she has been enforcing the rules of the preschool association. She supervises the children but the parents supervise her. She needs to become a stronger leader. As for her personal life, she has a great guy in wildlife biologist, Luke. But she also has a deep-seated fear of replicating her parents' disastrous relationship. Here too she will have to show greater strength of character. Happy Families is a rich feast juxtaposing the West Coast's vast wilderness with the boundaries and rules of a preschool world. Julie is a woman coming to terms with both past and present in her quest to achieve personal and professional happiness.