The Second Hurricane is a parable set in the years after the Great Depression in middle America. Recruited to help with the rescue effort after a hurricane hits, a group of high school students become stranded themselves. Marooned on Two-Willow Hill, as the flood waters rise around them, they are at first reluctant to act together as a team. During the course of the opera, they gradually learn to work together, not only for survival but for true freedom.