The feisty Mrs. Powell has died and left Delbert with a pair of big shoes to fill. Mr. Powell, anxious to become rich on the property he inherited from his dead wife, cannot wait to leave the horrid and backward village of Cerro - and so takes no notice of the prosaic Delbert, the only employee of the Cerro Hardware Store. In his mourning for Mrs. Powell's friendship, Delbert comes to his own realizations concerning the forces that threaten to ruin Cerro, and decides to wage a secret war against what will eventually destroy all he knows and loves. Delbert's initial act of vandalism wreaks havoc in the town, deeply dividing the sentiments of newcomers who are vested in profit, and those whose hearts are rooted to the mountain. From Harley Marlin, to Earl Pratt, to Lairdy Bardman the singing hermit, to the prissy Edmond Powell - the characters of Cerro wrestle with events and realizations about what they love and why, in a place that for some can be called nothing other than magical.