Cities of the Plain: The Border Trilogy (Book 3)

In the fall of 1952, John Grady Cole and Billy Parham—two young men permanently marked by the boyhood adventures of their pasts—now stand together as cowboys on a New Mexico ranch. Their way of life is under immediate threat, as the modern world encroaches from the north in the form of a growing military presence. On the southern horizon lie the mountains of Mexico, a landscape that draws John Grady back again and again, leading him toward a passion as dangerous as it is inevitable.

As the definitive third volume of the Border Trilogy, this novel brings McCarthy's legendary southwestern sagas to a dramatic conclusion, confronting a changing country that is rapidly modernizing beyond recognition. John Grady, a young cowboy of the old school who is uniquely trusted by both men and horses, becomes deeply obsessed with the salvation of a fragile young woman. Set within a lovely yet terrible landscape defined by natural beauty and impending loss, this narrative explores themes of deep friendship, fierce loyalty, and the ultimate passing of the American frontier.