In an area of Rhode Island better known for historic mansions and more recent luxury homes, Ann and Kevin Tarsagian have established an alpaca farm. With enthusiasm and determination, they’ve learned to care for these special animals and built up a thriving business. When we visit, the farm has just welcomed a new and very cute arrival.

Lighthouse keeper Dave McCurdy loves the solitude and connection to the past that comes with his job. The lighthouse on Rose Island in Narragansett Bay was built in 1870.

Every year, crews from the ivy league universities Yale and Harvard compete in a rowing regatta. For students like Maddie, the weight of responsibility for their university’s reputation spurs them on in tough training for the annual race. Continuing northeast, we find New England’s largest estuary, a vast number of lighthouses, and a naval shipyard that has been producing submarines for over a hundred years.

New England is a region made up of six northeastern states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In New Haven, Connecticut, we visit one of the world’s finest universities, and meet Maddie, a student who excels in her chosen sport of rowing.

The Hamptons are a series of wealthy beachside neighbourhoods at the farthest end of Long Island. Angela Boyer-Stump is a real estate agent and long-time resident who knows this exclusive area very well. Today, we join her as she shows a potential buyer around a multi-million-dollar house that’s just been put on the market.

Blue Point Oyster Farm on Long Island provides oysters for restaurants and special events like parties and weddings. Kevin grew up in the area, and it was his love for the sea that brought him back. In this video, he explains some of the process involved in raising oysters.

Long Island’s beaches attract vacationers and New York City residents, and the seabed supports healthy stocks of oysters, both farmed and wild. They are ready to be collected by dedicated oyster divers and supply the restaurants of New York.

Photographer Nigel has fond childhood memories of New York's Coney Island amusement park. His subject today—a woman recently returned from traveling the world—shares that same sense of nostalgia. New York draws dreamers, and Nigel is no exception, aiming to make his mark in the upper echelons of photography.

Austin’s passion for cycling doesn’t stop when work ends. As a bike messenger, he’s found a freedom few city jobs can offer. Across town on Coney Island, we meet another New Yorker with a creative streak: photographer Nigel Morris, who scouts the boardwalk for spontaneous open-air portraits of people who catch his eye.

In New York, Austin works as a bicycle messenger, weaving through the city’s relentless traffic to make urgent deliveries. He’s good at his job too, having recently won the world championship for couriers! He explains what he enjoys about his work, and why the bridges are significant to the city’s cyclists.

Clive repurposes spare materials from his work, crafting doors and tables from the high-quality wood he salvages. Today, he’s hosting a party for friends and family in his Brooklyn backyard. Next, we head to Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center.

Heading north towards New York, we pass the Twin Lights lighthouse and, overlooking the Hudson River, perhaps the most famous statue in the world, the Statue of Liberty. The city’s skyline has another iconic feature: the wooden water tanks perched on its rooftops. We meet Clive Bushy, a veteran installer who risks life and limb to keep the city’s water flowing.

At the zoo, Lindsey carries out her daily tasks and presents spiders, scorpions, and millipedes to fascinated visitors. She hopes that by introducing people to insects and bugs at a young age, they won’t grow up afraid of the creatures she loves.

John explains which tools he uses to create his marvellous sand sculptures, and why the finished works of art need protecting from the people who come to see them! Further north, at Toms River, we meet Lindsay Harrington, who works for a museum’s insect zoo, and is on the beach with colleagues trying to net a big catch of invertebrates.

Peggy started her winery together with her father, and she keeps his office just as it was when he was alive. Further north on an Atlantic City beach, John Gowdy has carved out a niche for himself as a sand sculptor.