In the forest of life, each family is a single tree; in the forest of death, each family is blighted in its own particular way. No Travelers Returns portrays what happens to the members of the Brim family who, having survived the Great Depression and WWII, are stunned by the sudden death of the head of their family. Out of their heartbreak and mourning, unable to comfort or solace one another, the family ties are strained to the breaking point as each of them tries to hold on to differing loves for their husband and father as well as their love for one another. During the year following the death, the grief stricken and confused family struggles to cope with their sorrows. How each of the Brims does so is told from their own viewpoints with power and poignancy. No Travelers Returns is a novel that affirms the family as the most intimate and important haven in life while at the same time recognizing its complexities and difficulties as the smallest community in the larger society.