Talmadge’s solitary life of seeding, pruning and picking in his meticulous rows of well-tended fruit trees is uprooted when two wary pregnant girls arrive on his doorstep fleeing a life of abuse, with a furious, gun-toting child brothel owner in hot pursuit.

The silence of the stifling summer heat and untamed, sprawling landscape of the American West is shattered by baby’s cries. When the girls’ abuser appears at the orchard, tragedy strikes and it appears the farmer’s carefully curated peace may be at an end forever. With time marked out only by the ripening of fruits and the arrival and departure of a band of horse breakers and their bucking, semi-wild herd, The Orchardist progresses rhythmically through the repetitions of the agricultural calendar.

The simplicity and monotony of Talmadge’s world contrasts with the vividity of Cobin’s writing, which frames the ranch and its introverted characters in intense detail. The Orchardist lulls you into a false sense that this is a sleepy story, but nothing could be further from the truth- with murder, suicide and disappearances proving the plains are hiding more than their fair share of secrets.

Coplin’s epic tale explores the characters’ many struggles; desiring the the comfort and consistency of home while filled with the compulsion to travel and explore, letting go of those you love in spite of your own loneliness, and the strength of the women fighting for their place in this macho, rancher’s world in which they have little power and few rights.