In Montana in 1925, bachelor brothers Phil and George Burbank run the family ranch together after their parents retire to Salt Lake City.

While driving their cattle into the small town of Beech, Phil offends the widow Rose Gordon, a local businesswoman and hotelier whose doctor husband had committed suicide, when he makes a cruel comment towards her teenage son, Peter, calling him a sissy.

Rose secretly begins to drink to cope with blinding headaches she develops because of the tense living situation between her and Phil, and forms a habit of stealing from George's liquor cabinet.

Peter is elated that his mother is happy at last and reflects that this was always meant to be, as his father's suicide and his own action of giving Phil a hide tainted with anthrax has paved the way for her to be content.

Michelle Nijhuis from Literary Hub writes about the reception of the book: "Though published to critical acclaim, Thomas Savage's 1967 novel, The Power of the Dog, sold poorly and was largely forgotten until its republication in 2001, after which it began to be appreciated as a regional classic".

"[2] In her afterword to the book, author Annie Proulx describes The Power of the Dog as a "literary artwork" and an influence on her works like "Brokeback Mountain".