Vineland begins in 1984. By this time, the counterculture movement of the 1960s has long passed (See: Background). The counterculture movement, embodied by hippies like Zoyd, called for free love, civil rights, an end to the Vietnam War, and the legalization of substances such as marijuana and LSD. Though Zoyd may still hold these values, his role in society is greatly diminished, as the wave of optimism and enthusiasm for genuine social change has abated. Across the non-linear timeline, Vineland explores the failures of the counterculture movement and how the people closely involved in that historical moment coped with the change.

Taking place on an ostensibly conservative campus, far removed from the more prominent and more left-wing campuses such as Berkely, the People’s Republic of Rock and Roll is founded in the shadow of a giant statue of Richard Nixon. The students are swept up in a chaotic embrace of radical politics, anti-war demands, communist rhetoric, and rampant substance misuse. The People’s Republic of Rock and Roll functions as a microcosm of the counterculture movement, a brief and dazzling burst of energy in which the students strive to build a better world, only for their attempt to collapse in on itself amid conspiracies, substance misuse, and personal vendettas.