The Montana Virgil finds is torn between the old ranching families who must struggle for survival and the new, wealthy, urban refugees. Who is winning doesn't come as much of a surprise, and Offut's examination of how people fall into militia groups is frighteningly realistic. The novel never becomes an apology for militias, but it does show how logical militias are for the rural poor. Independence leads to a hatred for government. Insularity leads to racism.
Despair leads to violence.
Offut isn't a master storyteller. The plot twists all work a bit too neatly. The heroine and the bad guys show up right on que. Yet this book lingers in the mind as something much more than another good story. Offut knows what he is talking about.