The Diviners (1980)

The Diviners is set in the early 1930s, a time when America was suffering under the effects of the Great Depression. The urban areas faced the gravest financial crisis in U.S. history – the banking system was on the brink of collapse and the manufacturing industries suffered from inadequate demand.

But Zion is in America’s heartland. People from the land and live off their own produce. Zion’s citizens suffer from low prices for their goods, but at least they can feed themselves and their families with their produce. Two institutions hold Zion together: the town store and church. The store act as a gathering place and informal meeting hall so that people can gain a sense of belonging. The church provides the religious base to the community, but it also ties the people together through a common religion and view of the world.