Bluegrass examines the startling possibility of faith and hope in a world defined by the impermanent and punctuated by pain and death. The story follows Cold Spring, a semiprofessional bluegrass band, from their obscure origins In Pigeon Forge, Pennsylvania, to the national stage. While the band tries for the golden ring of stardom, their home county is suffering from the growing pains caused by the opening of a new Interstate highway and the culture shock caused by a huge influx of people fleeing the city. From the moment real estate mogul Hugh McAdam's helicopter sets down in the parking lot of Chat Dalton's Garage, a struggle for control of the county ensues that eventually involves the Governor, scrapple, the Drug Enforcement Agency, ice tongs, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, cops, history books, drug dealers, auctioneers, bluegrass seed, construction workers, bibles, and assorted eccentric locals. Along the way, Dalton discovers that his past, like his beliefs about the future, are not all they appear to be. Spanning one festival season, the sights, sounds, heart and soul of bluegrass music and the rural bluegrass community that loves it are the backdrop for a story of lost innocence, rapacious development, endangered love, and the daunting task the locals of Pigeon Forge have in dealing with a paradise lost.