Cattle

Set among four Alberta ranches, the narrative follows the vast Bar Q and its domineering owner Bill Langdon, whose wealth and influence extend over nearby reserves and whose past night riding and rustling shape local rivalries. A young domestic worker arrives and provides relief and companionship to Langdon's ailing wife, revealing daily routines of ranch life, household labor, and the social order that sustains the ranching operation. The story examines power, greed, and the human costs of frontier prosperity, including exploitation of Indigenous lands, gendered labor, isolation, and the erosion of moral and physical health in a patriarchal cattle economy.