In the second part of his McCaskill trilogy, Ivan Doig creates a rich and varied tapestry of northern Montana and of our country at that still innocent time before the Second World War. It is the summer of 1939, and teenager Jick McCaskill is anticipating the usual activities of summer: the annual sheep count, the Fourth of July picnic, the excitement and danger of the rodeo. But when his brother decides to forgo college for the life of a cowhand, a painful rift in the family leads Jick to discover his own connection to the land, to history, and to family – to discover, in fact, who he is.