It's a summer in the sixties near a small coast side town in California. A man who has taken on the name of Shiva is driving north on Highway 1 when he picks up two young women hitchhikers in his VW van. They stop and hike to an overlook of the Pacific Ocean where they are enveloped in fog and one of the women disappears. In an incredulous daze they travel on until they reach Bolinas. The town already has an influx of bohemians and bikers and has a colorful past. After a concert in the local community center Shiva reluctantly takes on the mantel of the next enlightened master. The word spreads and Bolinas becomes a turbulent, fantastic and ecstatic place. Unfortunately Shiva cannot escape his past and in a number of hallucinations he struggles with his inner doubts and the world's problems. Eventually a man comes into Bolinas looking for his lost wife. The situation that arises requires Shiva, as well as his followers, to confront themselves and behold unforeseen consequences.

Two brothers travel through stories that define their lives - from a fairy tale to a future world. One is tying to evade his past while the other is trying to confront it. Emotional and historical memories merge as they journey through a labyrinth of different times, places and characters...

The Long Goodbye: Dementia Diaries discusses a disease that is both personal and social for more than five million patients and their families and friends in the United States today. Now that there are medical strategies for preventing and/or curing strokes, heart attacks, even cancer, many more people are going to live into the dementia years in the near future. Although many dementia horror stories circulate in conversation and in the media, they are not the whole story. Creative approaches to loving a dementia patient can make for a valuable learning experience for family and caregivers. In The Long Goodbye Margaret Miles describes her commitment to making--rather than passively suffering--her spouse's dementia experience. Family and friends who accompany patients find embedded in the experience moments of great beauty, hilariously funny incidents, new companions, and life insights. The narrative provides both a travelogue and suggestions for a richly meaningful life passage for all participants. The Long Goodbye seeks to supply a balanced picture of a disease usually represented as unmitigated loss.