American Harvest is set in the heartland of Kansas. Two proud, stubborn families have not spoken to one another because of an incident in the distant past. Wayne Rogers, the patriarch of one of the families, is in danger of losing his wheat farm. He knows that his land will be saved if he patches things up with rival farmer Earl Holliman, but such a reconciliation is out of the question.

Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage.

A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit."

The story of the 1950s platinum-blonde sex symbol whose search for stardom and meteoric (if brief) career ended in an automobile accident when she was 36.