Blood Atonement

Polygamy—with its dark side of incest, welfare fraud, enslavement, and rape—is alive and well! Competition between a self-ordained plig "patriarch" and an upstart rival shatters Hart McKeon's modest dream of establishing a trail-ride concession near Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Although Hart has no connection with the pligs, one of the plig contenders believes that Hart has access to information that could axe his ambitions, and plots to remove Hart from the scene. Hart is unjustly charged with a crime and sent to the Utah State Prison. Ten years in the state pen toughen Hart, educate him in many ways—good and bad, and help him find faith. When Hart is finally paroled, he resolves to put all bitterness and anger behind him and to look to the future. However, the pligs' ongoing power struggle threatens Hart's resolve, his life, and the life of the woman he loves.