The Fire Gospels takes place in the McCutcheon River Valley during a long-standing drought. Through characters like Grady McCann, a hardworking maintenance man at an old folks’ home; his wife, Erica, a strangely evangelical Catholic; and Lucky Littlefield, the local weatherman turned preacher who enjoins his viewers to "pray for rain" at the beginning of each broadcast, The Fire Gospels tells in vivid detail the story of the draught and how the townspeople are seduced into believing that Lucky will pull them through their time of struggle.