Smallish and inelegant, Shean's postwar, post-industrial economy is in desperate disrepair, and the lengths that some civic leaders will go to in order to do "what's best" sometimes requires a leap of faith that has unintended consequences. When a global corporation plans a daring scheme to exploit the remaining coal from an improbable source -- and thus to secure Shean's economic future -- politicians try to marginalize the few voices of dissent. Some voices, however, are not easily silenced.