In a small working-class town, the building of a dam uproots everyone and everything - including the graveyard and those who rest beneath it. As the behemoth rises, a worker falls to his death, earning only a moment's pause from his crew before they entomb him in freshly poured concrete. The workman's fall is witnessed by Helen Massey, a woman who is no stranger to tragedy ever since her fiance was killed by a roadside bomb in a war-torn country overseas. But neither the construction nor the imminent death of her town cause as much turmoil as the return of her long-lost brother, Robbie, who carries with him the secret that tore their family apart and which - unbeknownst to Helen - binds their lives together in a profound and unexpected way. 'Progress', the highly anticipated follow-up to Michael V. Smith's acclaimed debut novel 'Cumberland', is a stirring story of lives lost and found.