Having lost his parents at a young age, Capricorn is raised and homeschooled on a commune by his grandmother, Rain. While he has vague memories of other people on Garland Farm, for most of his life it has just been Capricorn and Rain. Rain is raising Capricorn with the values and ideals that caused her and the other members of “The Farm” to drop out of mainstream society in the late 1960s. Before getting sent to Claverage Middle School, Capricorn has had very little contact with anyone other than his grandmother. His isolation has allowed Rain to transmit her worldview to Capricorn, without any interference from the outside world. When Rain gets hurt, and Capricorn is forced to live in Mrs. Donnelly’s home and attend a large middle school, everything that Rain taught him is challenged.

While Capricorn’s experiences in “the real world” do change him to a degree, he seems to have much more of an effect on others than they do on him. Rain’s teachings allowed Capricorn to develop a strong sense of self, and even when encountering new, often stressful, situations, he resists peer pressure, stays calm, and acts according to his own value system.