The US government and big business teamed up to build dams and bridges across the American West. A band of individuals teamed up to prevent it happening. In this chaotic comedy their aim is to dismantle the machinery of progress through peaceful means, or otherwise.

Edward Abbey was born in Pennsylvania in 1927 and spent most of his life in the American southwest. His books include the celebrated Desert Solitaire, which established Abbey as one of the country's foremost defenders of the environment. Edward Abbey died in 1989.