An entertaining tale of the churches of a small town, Boyd City, IL, having a reputation with outsiders as being generally unhelpful to society. They love to talk about theological points, but they don't offer any practical help to those who are down and out. The two protagonists of the book, George and Dick, are both lauded in some ways as more Christian than the Christians, though both resist Christianity and the Church, thoughtfully, because of the seeming hypocrisy and lack of compassion of the Church in general.

The key text of the novel is from Matt 25: Inasmuch as you have not done it unto the least of these, you have not done it unto me.

The book reveals the tension between loving Christ but not his imperfect Church. I appreciate the fact that the book doesn't completely abandon the Church, but shows that the Church can be reformed, and even in its impurer states, often offers more than the world.