After many years working in a store, Lyle now lives following the rhythm of the seasons on the farm he shares with his wife in a town in Wisconsin. They are happy because her daughter Shiloh, a single mother with whom they have had a complicated relationship since her adolescence, has returned home with Isaac, her five-year-old grandson. But Shiloh is dating an evangelical pastor who has an enormous influence on her. Lyle fears that they will leave home again and lose them again.

In his third novel, Butler continues to demonstrate that he is a master at building characters and recreating a geographical space, the American Midwest, that few know better than him. Something to Believe In explores the relationships between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren: a story about community and family, and what we are willing to do to care for and protect those we love.