A ranch family, in a remote part of Montana, is caught up by world events, as one generation after another is dragged into the Navy. The son follows his father who was killed in World War II, only to experience the near-world war terror of the Cuban Crisis. The sailor returns to the ranch and years later sees his own son join the Navy, serving in Desert Storm and the Iraq war.The rancher is haunted by inexplicable family nightmares about another civilization whose decline was hastened by a military catastrophe in the Fertile Crescent long ago. A previously unknown son born to a black nurse is...

Dysfunctional reporters converging on a sleepy small town, expecting "no news," become consumed by an avalanche of events that defies their understanding. Sometimes gruesome local traditions draw local outrage when reported. Past secrets are not talked about. Crimes become deeply personal for the entire community.

Reporters grapple with their emotions in trying to understand it all, while also enduring public contempt for the paper. The alcoholic editor misses typo after typo, which sinks stories into absurdity and makes the paper a laughingstock; hence the nickname, The Croaker.

The town...