Alvin Price and Lydia Cockrum literally bump into one another in the summer of 1870 and fall in love. But love is seldom without its struggles. Alvin is a farmer, and Lydia is the privileged daughter of an engineer aligned with northern Michigan's powerful lumber industry. The Cut tells the story of the two interests at odds over a dam powering a sawmill. The problem: the dam floods out hundreds of acres of farmland. When the lumbermen ignore a court order to stop the damming, Alvin leads the farmers to action. In the spring of 1871, they dig a narrow, shallow ditch five hundred yards long, intending to relieve the flooding. None of them foresee the force of nature that will rage when the bulwark holding the pent-up waters of Portage Lake is torn back. The cut changes forever the way of life around the lake, and with it, Alvin and Lydia's relationship. But Mother Nature isn't through with them yet. On October 8, 1871, a terrible storm will sweep across the upper Midwest, setting off fires in Chicago and dozens of other cities, including Manistee, Michigan. Can Alvin and Lydia's love survive a second force majeure?