Galen has lived every day trying to live up to non-existant standards. He is rarely successful and retreats into his quiet life. But when things come to a head, Galen escapes to South Korea. He lands in Pohang, a small town in the southeast corner of the country. He takes charge of his life but a move to Seoul forces him to reckon with his past and what he might want for his future.

Passionate, subtly comic, and heavy with searching, Jared C Wood's Land of the Morning Calm is a novel about friendship, journey to self, and living a full life.