What happens when a young ranch family in 1950s rural Wyo-ming loses its moorings? Hardpan tells the journey of Kurt and Jo Glover who leave their pioneer Oregon ranch to sink roots into rugged land at the base of the Absaroka Range of the Rockies. They have to dig deep to support each other through unexpected chal-lenges and hardships that lead them to make another fate-ful decision for their young family.

It is a tale of external forces tearing at the ranching roots of a family, recounted from the points-of-view of the father and his older daughter. With the disintegration of the life they have known together, while Linda is thrust into the glamour world of televised wrestling, instant religion, and people desperate to reclaim a daughter they have lost through a tragic accident, her father is struggling to reestablish himself as the family breadwinner by tak-ing on jobs in central California that are foreign to his upbringing.

A short film, “The Fence,” based on a chapter from the novel, won the Director’s Award at the UCLA Film Festival in 2008. The film, directed by Matt Silas, was selected again for the Ashland Film Festival in 2009.