At an oceanography institute in northern California, Dr. Tina Arenas studies climates of the distant geologic past-- but her data has unexpectedly modern implications. As she struggles to obtain research funding, Tina finds herself being dragged into the media spotlight on global warming and falling in love with a local organic farmer, who has his own ideas about climate, the media, scientific funding, and commitment. Set in the early 1980s, when the oil industry was beginning its climate change denial campaign, CARBON DREAMS is the story of one scientist's struggle to reconcile her conflicting responsibilities to science, to society, and to her own loved ones.