Father and Son is an epic novel about the end of the Wild West and the beginning of the 20th century. Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland is separated from his son Ishmael during the time of the Mexican Revolution, and he subsequently tries to track him down in order to reconcile. Along the way, he falls into the hands of soldiers from the revolutionary army who suspect him of having murdered Mexican civilians as a Texas Ranger during a punitive expedition. The novel flashes back to the time of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and concludes during World War I.