The End of the Point

A place out of time, Ashaunt Point in Massachussetts has provided sanctuary and anchored life for generations of the Porter family, who spend their summers along its remote, rocky shore.

But in 1942, the U.S. Army arrives on the Point, bringing havoc and change. The two older Porter girls—teenagers Helen and Dossy—run wild. The children's Scottish nurse, Bea, falls in love. And the youngest daughter, Janie, is entangled in an incident that cuts the season short and haunts the family for years to come.

As the decades pass, Helen, and then her son Charlie, return to the Point, seeking refuge from the rapidly changing times. But Ashaunt is not entirely removed from events unfolding beyond its borders. Neither Charlie nor his mother can escape the long shadow of history—Vietnam, the bitterly disputed real estate development of the Point, economic misfortune, illness, and tragedy.

An unforgettable portrait of one family's journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully illuminates the powerful legacy of family and place, exploring what we are born into, what we pass down, and, what we preserve, cast off or willingly set free.