Goodlands, North Dakota, has been suffering a massive drought for the past four years. Farms are in foreclosure, people's livelihoods are on the wane, and the town's beleaguered mortgage lender, Karen Grange, is beginning to think she should pack up and go back to Minneapolis.

Then Tom Keatley arrives. He calls himself a rainmaker. Karen thinks he's a drifter. And the townsfolk -- well, the townsfolk aren't about to trust the tall, mysterious stranger who wanders their streets, visits their dying farms, and keeps his thoughts to himself. They don't need an out-of-towner surveying their land, hands in pockets, eyes looking at the sky. What they need is rain.

What happens to Goodlands when Tom Keatley arrives is as mysterious as the elements. And what he unleashes is much more profound than a storm. There is a mystery behind this terrible drought, and a message, and its unrelenting fierceness can destroy the town of Goodlands. Tom knows this. But Karen does not. Not yet.

Tom and Karen's love affair, elemental and profound, is intertwined with the story of a town gripped by fear, and paralyzed by the sickness at its core. Suspenseful and gripping from the first page, "A Dry Spell" is a mesmerizing read.