Sarah is offered the chance for Greylock to receive international recognition, but at a great personal cost and turns to Grover for support. Bella is thriving in politics and tries to convince her dad to make it permanent. Danny offers to help Corinne with her legal problems, but Corinne asks for something he wasn't expecting. Meanwhile, Tyler sees that AJ is struggling and offers to help. In return, AJ gives him a gift that supports his newfound passion.
The bucolic tranquility of Greylock, New Hampshire is upended when a massive vein of coltan - an incredibly valuable mineral used in tech - is discovered under the town. State-backed mining company Lydon Industries swoops in with plans to extract the mineral, which will wipe Greylock off the map. With her friends and family in danger of losing their homes, rebellious high school teacher Sarah Cooper vows to stop Lydon's bulldozers.
Leading Lydon's efforts is Sarah's estranged brother, Danny Cooper. After enduring a difficult childhood at the hands of his mother, former New Hampshire state senator Ellen Cooper, Danny is eager to exact his revenge on a community he feels abandoned him. Sarah enlists her friends - fellow teacher Corinne Dearborn, police officer Amy "AJ" Johnson, and diner manager Grover Simms - in the fight against Danny.
There seems to be no way to stop the town's impending demise, until Sarah proposes an oddly intriguing solution: Greylock could declare independence, since the town's land was never properly claimed by the United States. With the help of a group of supporters that includes Sarah's friends and three of her teenage students - LA transplant Maya Jiménez, introspective outsider Tyler Easterbrook, and preppy "popular girl" Bella Whitmore - they win the vote. Now, Sarah and her allies must confront an even more daunting task: building a country from scratch.