[2] Riders of the Purple Sage is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah, around 1870-71.

The story is told by an omniscient narrator reporting the characters' actions and thoughts, for example: "On this night the same old loneliness beset Venters..."[4] Wealthy owner and operator of the sizable Withersteen ranch founded by her father.

The Rainbow Trail, a sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage that reveals the fate of Jane and Lassiter and their adopted daughter, was published in 1915.

Both novels are notable for their protagonists' strong opposition to Mormon polygamy, but in Rainbow Trail this theme is treated more explicitly.

[5] During World War II the novel was rejected for publication as an Armed Services Editions paperback provided to US servicemen due to perceived bias against Mormonism.

[7] Riders of the Purple Sage was adapted into an opera by composer Craig Bohmler and librettist Steven Mark Kohn.