The Aldridge family has a sawmill business in Pittsburgh. The eldest son, Byron, participates in World War I and returns very changed and upset by what he has experienced in Europe, and, instead of returning to his family, he lives as a sheriff in a sawmill in Louisiana. When his father learns of his location, he decides to buy the farm and send his second son, Randolph, to run the business and try to get his brother back. The novel is the story of that task, in a very hard environment, of violence (murders, fights, actions of mafia groups...), in a very hostile territory, and a work of survival for uneducated people with primitive behaviors.
There is a struggle between good and evil, but there is a background of mercy, forgiveness, efforts to find just solutions to problems and a defense of the family. The characters are well profiled, the descriptions of facts and places are very precise. The writer uses many technical terms, describing machines, tools, weapons, etc. ..... A novel of high quality, hard, but open to transcendence.