A Mormon from birth, Jane Withersteen nevertheless resists marriage to one of the local church leaders, Elder Tull and, following her adoption of a Christian child, grows increasingly disillusioned with the strict dogma and rampant discrimination practised by her church. As attacks on Jane's ranch and friends escalate, she enlists the help of Lassiter, a well-known gunslinger, and eventually escapes to a new life in which she is free to love whomever she chooses. Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage is widely recognized as one of the first Western novels, and is credited with shaping the genre.