Mona-Lia and Mark are two ex-Hollywood scenesters who uproot their sound design studio, two dogs and burgeoning Internet company and move to New Zealand where Mark has landed a visual effects job with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
 
Both of their lives change completely for better and worse.  Mark begins working inhuman hours and is swallowed whole by his new job. while Mona-Lia travels around the southern hemisphere to escape the domestic stress and strain his new job causes.
 
Mona-Lia and Mark rediscover themselves and each other in their quest to record sounds while exploring new and exotic lands.such as Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Tokyo, and Bali. This three year journey is filled with detailed accounts of the making of the visual effects of the famous films along with in depth observations on what it is they learned about leaving their home, friends and family in California to live and work in a new country with a socialist heritage.