Florida Story

On the pleasant east coast of Lake Worth, Florida, there is a gated real estate development of pastel-colored houses with red and pink tiled roofs. Deferential palm cast gentle shade on the streets and the soaring screed lanais at the rear of each home allow nature to be part of every owner's living room. This community, known as Isla Vista, is a compound of 528 "Villas" containing over 1,000 souls - aging affluent migrants from hostile northern climes. The bright Mediterranean-style tinted homes are located on streets bearing the names Sienna, Venice, Florence and Montecatini - an artificial tribute to Italy's Renaissance tradition and an Italian-American builder's construction fantasies. The "Compound" as its residents call it, is located just a few short miles from Florida's nerve center of great wealth, Palm Beach. There are many stories in the retirement gated communities of Florida. Most retirees who head south seek redemption in the sunshine. But all too often they recycle what they left behind, their need for renewal, their quest for something better, their fears, disappointments and illusions. These are the stories of Isla Vista.