In "Ragland," Billy Peeler, the reluctant patriarch of one of Mississippi's "best" families, gets into serious trouble in Memphis. He shoots and kills a black youth in self-defense. Due to the persistent protests of a black clergyman, the story spirals toward even more violence and suffering that threatens to set Memphis ablaze and destroy a one hundred- and sixty-year-old dynasty. Is Billy Peeler's Job-like predicament a sign of the times we live in, or retribution for the misdeeds of his forebearers?