The first novel in the Snopes trilogy, set in Frenchman's Bend, a small farming village in Yoknapatawpha County. It follows the rise of the Snopes family, shrewd and grasping newcomers who move into local business and push aside older families. The book mixes sharp comedy, tall tales and haunting episodes, including the strange love of a villager for a cow. Faulkner draws a lively, unsentimental picture of rural life and of how greed spreads through a community.