Country Dark

The talented Offutt here returns to rural Kentucky, the territory defining his fiction and memoirs. In 1954, 17-year-old Tucker arrives home from Korea with 11 medals, $400 in army pay, and 15-year-old Rhonda, who is about to become his wife. While other men head for Ohio factory jobs, Tucker stays in his beloved Kentucky hills and delivers moonshine for the local runner Beanpole. Over the next ten years, Tucker and Rhonda have six children, four severely disabled, and the devoted Tucker works the dangerous but well-paid job to provide for them. When an officious social worker threatens to institutionalize their children, Tucker metes out his own justice, an act of violence that Beanpole holds over him to force him to take the fall in a fake raid. If Tucker goes to prison for eight months, Beanpole will pay Rhonda's bills and give Tucker a big bonus. Once Tucker is imprisoned, however, a gang fight sends Tucker to maximum security for five more years. When released, he heads home to settle a few scores.