Annie Nations, an indomitable Appalachian widow of 79, lives on her mountain farm with the acerbic ghost of her husband Hector. Her tranquility is threatened by a brash real estate developer who wants to turn her land into a vacation resort and by concern over her son Dillard, a country singer who has come home with two stranded children because his wife has run away. Annie's battle to decide her future takes her through some funny, touching and magical flashbacks to her life with Hector. Played on Broadway by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, this couple offers a staunchly affirmative tribute to country folk.
Foxfire glows in the dark in the forests of Southern Appalachia: it's a lichen that lives on dead fallen trees. It is also the name of a magazine in which, for more than a decade, the young people of Appalachia have recorded the beliefs and personalities of their grandparents’ generation, the last of the indomitable pioneers who carved out of unwelcoming mountain soil not only a living but a tough, joyous way of life that has almost vanished now.