Set in the fictional town of Union Grove, New York, the novel follows many of the same cast of characters from the previous novel as they navigate a world stripped of its modern comforts, ravaged by terrorism, epidemics, and the economic upheaval of peak oil.

The overarching premise, however, is a stark look into the future at the dire consequences of the poor American system of urban planning, and the complete lack of workability the contemporary suburban arrangement possesses without the continuous input of inexpensive and abundant energy to maintain its infrastructure.

His journey sets other characters in motion, mainly Brother Jobe, the leader of the New Faith Church and, to a lesser degree, Robert Earle, Rev.

Set a few months after the events of A World Made by Hand, the citizens of Union Grove are living on the tail end of a national catastrophe, with their community slowly falling apart from neglect and natural decay.

Much of the rest of the nation seems to be falling apart, with nuclear blasts in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., cities devolving and a fractured United States.

Copeland is eventually caught by the New Faith Church, who were looking for him after he poisoned their stallion, but when he performs an emergency appendectomy on Brother Jobe they are square.

A fiddle player in the town's various musical groups, he is the line between the past and the new age; of old democratic values and more dystopian forces struggling for control.

In the previous novel, the arrival of the New Faith Church and murder by one of Karp's men make him realize their town's need to be more proactive in taking care of business as a community.

Reverend Loren Holder - Pastor of the traditional white-steepled First Congregational church in Union Grove, his thoughts dwell in the past while he tries to keep up the town's spirits.

Barbara Maglie - She's the sole owner of a luxurious house in the village of Hebron, north of Union Grove, and is the story's eponymous witch.

Brother Jobe - The leader of a religious group called the New Faith Church, which comes to Union Grove fleeing unrest in Virginia.

His flock takes over the abandoned high school and has a "can-do" attitude, shaking the town that is slowly falling apart from neglect.

After Jasper Copeland poisons the New Faith Church's stallion, Brother Jobe and two of his men track him seeking justice, finding Bones' victims along the way.

Perry Talisker - A hermit, outdoorsman, and former butcher whose wife ran away after a hard winter, he decides after looking at a poster that his fate lies in having a showdown with a catamount, a local mountain lion.

Publishers Weekly wrote, "In the sequel to his bestselling World Made by Hand, Kunstler delivers another grim and suspenseful novel.