A young Slovakian immigrant opens a uranium mine near Elliot Lake in northern Ontario, Canada, and later builds a massive replica of the modest church from his childhood village. Stranded among suburban streets named after prize-winning Holstein cows, the monumental cathedral now sits unfinished and private. Teenage zombies emerge from lakes and rivers around Serpent River First Nation, once poisoned by uranium waste. There is talk of eugenics at a Holstein pageant, and a retired dairy farmer and his wife remember a recurring dream in which their work is never done.