Bay Hymns

Buck Buchanan returns home to Emerald, Washington, from his winter home in Hawaii to tell his two sons that the estate they inherited two years prior has a catch. The oldest boy, Junior, who has inherited the large concrete and asphalt company from Buck, believes that the gravel pit he is now digging in is the last gravel pit on Clay Island. The youngest son, Jess, has inherited the ‘old pit’ from Buck. It was land that had been abandoned decades ago as a working pit and thought to be good for nothing. Jess is a retired singer-songwriter who has settled in the ‘old pit’, lives in a camper, writes his songs and stories, and fishes in the most beautiful pond you will ever see.

But Buck reveals that below the waters of the pond is the last gravel pit in the San Juan Islands, and the largest. And now, with the navy proposing to build an auxiliary airfield of interconnecting runways two miles away, the ‘old pit’ mineral rights are worth whatever the market will bring… perhaps millions. But to a simple man like Jess, it’s a problem, not a windfall.

The setting is the San Juan Islands of Washington State, and the Emerald community is suffering an economic drought, which puts even more pressure on Jess to sell. The “Brotherhood”—the Buchanan Construction employees—terrorize Jess in a series of threatening acts orchestrated by his brother, and as bid time nears, the acts get more terrifying.

Amanda Hunt, Jess’ attorney, is Junior’s former girlfriend, and she has her own agenda for representing Jess. Along with BB Gunderson, Jess’ beautiful but reckless girlfriend, and Jess’ best friend, Billy Wilson, who owns the legendary Dockside Café, there is plenty of action in this fast-paced and imaginative drama on the Salish Sea.