Robert James Waller

Carlisle, an enigmatic drifter, has wandered from California to South Carolina and is headed back west when he happens on the small South Dakota town of Salamander. In the local diner, he meets one woman, the unhappily married Gally Deveraux, and then becomes entranced by another, ethereal outsider Susanna Benteen, whom he catches sight of one night. Carlisle decides to make his home in Salamander so that he can avoid "the great economic colossus...

A retired gambler who has traded in his cards for a peaceful life on a remote ranch, Winchell Dear is enjoying his quiet and reclusive life until three heavily armed men arrive to turn his life upside down.