Rock and Desire portrays modern-day gold fever—for Lindsay Allen, an obsession that steadily usurps weekends, evenings, home life and no small amount of family savings. After meticulous research, Lindsay stakes a claim to the Gold Eagle, one of Nova Scotia's 70 working mines from the turn of the 19th century. Like 1,100 other registered prospectors in the province, he counts on uncovering that great untapped vein left behind by prospectors past.

Rock and Desire follows his efforts from the home front, where a gracious family humours his latest hobby, to the mine shaft, where a motley collection of friends and fellow enthusiasts make their way into a mine abandoned since 1902. Surrounded by pumps, charges, metal detectors, scaling bars, vent pans, climbing gear, a roto-panner, boulder buster and bad camp cooking, these men reveal the hard-headedness, bold vision and boyish hope that draws them into Lindsay's uncertain adventure.

Subject(s): Men, Mining, Nova Scotia