Henry Marcum shoots himself after coal company officials force his family off their land in Justice County.

C.J. Marcum and his grandmother move to Ermel Justice's large farm and the small independent town of Annadel.

Clabe Lloyd pulls his sons Rondal and Talcott out of school to work in the coal mines.

After rocks collapse and kill miner Joe Kracj, C.J. convinces Clabe to let Rondal come work in Annadel.

Rondal argues with C.J. and chooses to return to the coal mines to organize workers into a union.

Baldwin-Felts guards capture Rondal, burn the union organizer Johnson alive, and force Rondal to flee town within 24 hours.

Carrie Bishop graduates from nursing school and goes to work as a nurse at her brother Miles's coal mine.

Carrie and Rondal, who is going by the name Lloyd Justice, spend the night together at Pond Creek.

Carrie Bishop and Albion Freeman marry and move to the mining town of Felco, where Albion preaches and works in the mines.

A coal mine explosion kills several miners, including Rondal's father Clabe and his younger brother Kerwin.

Albion Freeman and fellow miners pour out their water bottles and refuse to enter the mines, launching the strike.

C.J. Marcum is shot and killed in a violent confrontation with coal company guards at the Annadel train station.

Baldwin-Felts guards ambush and shoot Albion Freeman and Isom Justice on their way to their murder trial.

Rondal Lloyd is shot and paralyzed from the waist down while fighting during the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Rondal Lloyd dies at the Homeplace shortly after Carrie gives birth to their son, whom Rondal names Dillon.

Storming Heaven follows the coal mining labor struggle in West Virginia, beginning when coal companies seize family farmland and force workers into dangerous poverty. C.J. Marcum loses his farm and rebuilds his life in the independent town of Annadel, where he mentors the young Rondal Lloyd and helps him understand the power of organized labor. Rondal sacrifices his promising future in medicine to return to the mines and secretly build a union, only to be driven out of town by brutal company guards. Meanwhile, nurse Carrie Bishop falls for Rondal and eventually marries the preacher Albion Freeman, and together they throw their lives into the union cause. The strike begins when miners walk off the job, but coal company forces and the U.S. government crush the movement through violence, martial law, and military intervention. By the novel's end, C.J., Albion, and Isom are dead, Rondal is paralyzed and dies soon after his son is born, and the union is broken—though the fight for workers' rights continues.

The rise and fall of the West Virginia miners' union struggle.

Railroad companies purchase family farms across Justice County; Vernie Lloyd signs away the Lloyd family's land.

Albion Freeman falls ill and is left with the Bishop family while his traveling father continues on to Ohio.

Albion finds the red ear of corn at a neighborhood shucking and steals a kiss from Carrie's cheek.

Doc Booker introduces C.J. to socialism, and the two men start a newspaper called the Annadel Free Press.

Miles Bishop returns from Berea College with changed speech and plans to work for a coal mine operator.

Orlando Bishop falls into the river and is killed while cutting timber to sell to the coal company.

Rosa Angelelli learns her sons must work in the dangerous coal mines while her husband Mario plays company baseball.

Baldwin-Felts guards raid Ermel Justice's gambling room and arrest the entire Annadel political club for seditious activities.

The Annadel baseball team plays the coal company's Davidson team; Talcott Lloyd shoots the ball with a gun and is arrested.

Miles Bishop discovers that Lloyd Justice is really the union organizer Rondal Lloyd and expels him from Pond Creek.

The governor declares martial law and state police raid the tent colony, arresting more than four hundred men.

A train of coal company guards passes the tent colonies at night and fires into the tents, hitting Carrie's arm.

After Albion's death, Rondal visits the Homeplace and convinces Carrie to move to Charleston and work as a nurse.

Hundreds of union miners gather in Charleston and march together toward Blair Mountain wearing their red bandanas.

Carrie asks New York newspaper reporters to drive her to Logan and tells them her account of the strike.

Pool 2 traces the supporting events that shape the world of Storming Heaven, from the early days of railroad land seizure to the desperate aftermath of the Battle of Blair Mountain. Characters like Orlando Bishop and Rosa Angelelli experience the coal industry's reach in deeply personal ways, losing family members to dangerous conditions while having little power to resist. Moments of community life—from corn shuckings and baseball games to Bible studies and political club meetings—reveal how mine operators try to control workers even outside the mines. The story also shows how the union movement draws in unlikely allies, including Carrie Bishop and Albion Freeman, whose commitment deepens as violence against strikers escalates. As the strike spreads across tent colonies, martial law, mass arrests, and nighttime shootings narrow the characters' options and force impossible choices. The pool closes on the desperate march toward Blair Mountain and its aftermath, as Carrie fights to save Rondal's life and preserve the truth of what happened.

The lives and losses surrounding the labor movement.

Sheriff Omar Kane forces local families off their land, refusing to hear Henry Marcum's claim that he never sold.

Schoolteacher Ben Honaker arrives at the Bishop farm and introduces Carrie to Wuthering Heights, sparking her dreams of a great romance.

Albion's father collects him from the Homeplace in the fall; Carrie waves goodbye and mourns his departure.

Union organizer Johnson secretly recruits Rondal and holds a nighttime meeting, declaring the union is open to all races.

Carrie invites Lloyd Justice to dinner at Miles's home, hoping Miles will hear firsthand about the miners' dangerous conditions.

Carrie spots Rondal playing banjo at a school dance and confesses her love, but he refuses to commit to her.

Albion finds Carrie hiding in the barn after Rondal's rejection and proposes again; she accepts, saying she feels at home with him.

Rondal returns home after the mine explosion and his mother blames him for his brother Kerwin's death.

Coal company guards beat Rondal on the Annadel train platform as a warning against his union organizing.

Rondal speaks at Doc Booker's church about Johnson's death; miners respond by tying red bandanas around their necks.

At C.J. Marcum's funeral, Rondal spots his long-estranged uncle Dillon Lloyd standing silently beside the open grave.

Carrie tells Doc Booker she is pregnant with Rondal's baby just before Rondal leaves to fight at Blair Mountain.

Rondal and Talcott capture a drunk young man fighting for the coal company and plan a strategic feigned retreat.

On the train to Kentucky, Rondal reveals his true union identity to a coal company man by displaying his red bandana.

Dillon Freeman writes an afterword revealing himself as the novel's author, noting his own union strike against American Coal continues.

Pool 3 focuses on the pivotal moments of revelation and choice that drive each character's arc from beginning to end. Early scenes reveal the roots of the conflict, from a sheriff's cold dismissal of landowners' rights to the quiet origins of Carrie's romantic longing and Rondal's first secretive steps toward union organizing. As the characters grow, each faces defining crossroads: Carrie choosing stability with Albion over passion for Rondal, Rondal choosing public danger over safe anonymity, and the miners deciding to stand together whatever the cost. The mining explosion and its aftermath bring personal grief and moral reckoning, while the church meeting and the strike's escalation show how private pain becomes collective action. The final events move from the turning point on Blair Mountain to a charged confrontation on a train, where Rondal defiantly reveals his true identity to a coal company man. The Afterword closes the loop as Rondal's son Dillon reveals he wrote the entire novel as an act of remembrance for his family and the unfinished labor struggle they began.