John of John

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Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John Calum Macleod takes the ferry back to Harris. Home looks much the same, but he does not. In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal slips back into an old life that no longer fits, measured by habit, weather, and the quiet scrutiny of a small community.

He is caught between two forces that shaped his childhood. His father, John, is a sheep farmer, a weaver, and a pillar of the local Presbyterian church. His grandmother Ella, Glaswegian and sharp edged, has held a faltering peace with her son in law for decades. Cal’s presence unsettles what has been kept in place. He wonders about lonely men on the barren hillsides of home, while John is dismayed by his son’s long hair and his refusal to be Saved.

As the seasons pass, the fragile threads of the community begin to tangle, and everything feels poised to change.