Set against the backdrop of a rich Iowa farm, 'A Thousand Acres' is a parable of familial discord and deep-seated dysfunction. Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel reimagines Shakespeare's 'King Lear' through the lens of a modern American family. When aging farmer Larry Cook announces his intention to retire and divide his land among his three daughters, he sets in motion a chain of events that uncovers bitter secrets and reveals the complexities of love and inheritance. The choice to accept or reject this bequest becomes a pivotal decision for the Cook daughters, causing rifts as deep as the soil they've tended. Smiley paints a family portrait etched with the specter of power, ambition, and the human cost of trying to tame both the land and the heart's most tumultuous desires.