Synopsis:
The book is set 500 years into the future (or, at least it was when it was originally written) so in that respect it's science fiction. However, with possibly one exception none of the things that happen are really impossible to imagine based on what we know today.
Our Hero grows up in a small town in southeastern North America. He's the son of the local shopkeeper. Life is different from todays', fairly hard but not so bad. When he's a young man war is declared, a regiment is formed from the townsfolk and he is made the leader of a company. They set off for the war but on the way our Heroes company is waylaid by an Entrepreneur.
The Entrepreneur runs a secret enterprise in a valley far away. It consists of a coal mine plus some agricultural activities. The Entrepreneur lives in the valley (part of the time anyway) with his daughter who helps him run the place. Our Hero is sent to work in the mine. Things in the valley don't run particularly well because the Entrepreneur's attention to detail is not as acute as his vision and because there are too many people in the valley to feed. Secretly Our Hero gradually takes control of the valley and falls in love with the Entrepreneur's daughter.
Then the Entrepreneur makes commitments to supply more coal than they can reasonably produce with the manpower they have. This causes strife in the valley. Our Hero confronts the Entrepreneur directly. The ensuing conflict is finally resolved and Our Hero gets the girl. But at the last the Authorities discover the existence of the valley and they are all arrested, the Entrepreneur and his daughter are imprisoned and those destined for the war are sent on their way again.
By the time Our Hero reaches the battle he doesn't really want to fight. Although he has no choice at first, eventually he stages an insurrection which causes problems for the Government because they don't know how to stop it. They send, first the Entrepreneur and later others to negotiate an ending. Peace comes as result but this is not quite the end...
