When visionary Laslo Horoney decides to restore the high plains to their original condition, employing his vast fortune to do so, he runs into massive resistance from Montana people who have settled the area. Rancher Cameron Nichols and his family have lived on the land that Horoney wants to turn into a great buffalo commons, and the family has no intention of being driven off their land. This is a novel about people with differing visions of what is good, and how to use the land. For Nichols, the land should be developed into the best ranches he can create. For Horoney, the land should be restored to its virgin state,"the Big Empty," filled with buffalo and elk and deer and antelope. Horoney's effort to create a new wilderness over much of eastern Montana, is fiercely resisted by the family that has deep roots in the soil. This is a humane and thoughtful novel about the grasslands, and what the future holds for them.