After reporting at the Standing Rock protests, veteran NPR environmental reporter Ashley Ahearn quit her job in Seattle and moved to rural Washington. The protests didn’t stop the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the experience made her question her life and career. Now, she turns her gaze to the sage-grouse: “the most controversial bird of the West,” commonly called the cock of the plains. The show is, in part, a celebration of the landscape and a memoir of her move from a city to the country. She rides horseback, describes what it’s like to move cows, and even records herself as she’s forced to evacuate her home because of wildfire. But her story centers on the grouse, its dwindling population, and the bird’s impact on the people who live in the area. One rancher says, “I know you’re not supposed to try to control things from the grave, but all I want to do is to protect this dirt.” Wilson Wewa, a Northern Paiute/Palouse elder, shares a story of how sage hens help him and his tribe cope with grief. In the end, even though the future doesn’t look good for the grouse, the show remains uplifting; it traffics in courage instead of hope.