Wild Eyes

Rose Hill is symbolic of home and belonging. Skylar Stone flees her life in Los Angeles to come to this rural town in the Canadian Rockies because she’s tired of “staring into a camera blankly, feeling like [her] lungs are full of concrete and [her] throat is swollen shut” (22). In Rose Hill, she can breathe freely for the first time. The fresh mountain air, the local lakes, the “backcountry road[s],” and the calming atmosphere of Weston (West) Belmont’s private ranch offer her peace of mind for the first time in years (20). When she first sees West’s house, she notes that it “looks like a proper childhood home, or at least what [she] always imagined one to be like” (37). The house has a “wraparound deck,” “patio furniture,” kids’ toys in the yard, “a gigantic elm tree,” and “a rope swing” (37). This idyllic setting offers Skylar a form of safety and security that she has always lacked.

Furthermore, the relationships that Skylar makes in Rose Hill solidify her sense of belonging there. When she returns to the town after her brief trip to LA, she feels relieved to come back to the idyllic natural landscape, but she especially welcomes the prospect of returning to West, his children, and her new colleagues, Ford and Rosalie.