Where do you feel most at home? Maybe you’re nostalgic for where you’re from. Maybe you couldn’t wait to leave. Maybe home is where you’ll sleep tonight. Maybe you’re still searching. In a year when migrant children have been sent to live in a tent city, rents for a San Francisco apartment reached an average of $3,750, and wildfires destroyed entire communities, the question of how people find and define “home” has never felt more urgent. We asked 34 photographers to travel across the West, capturing stories about home for our first all-photography issue. Look. And listen — audio footnotes invite you to hear from many of the people you’ll meet in these pages. We’ve also curated and designed an accompanying exhibition at the Aperture Foundation’s renowned photography gallery in New York (December 6 to January 4), turning the gallery space into an expanded version of our cover essay — a magazine story you can walk through. We’ll share even more photographs and stories in the weeks to come on Instagram and at californiasunday.com. This special issue, “The Way Home,” unfolds in three chapters. We begin far away.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

PHOTOGRAPH BY RICARDO NAGAOKA