Cities of the Plain is the final volume of the Border Trilogy set in the parts of America either side of the Mexican border. It's one of those books that you could read in isolation, but without the backstories you would be missing out on a lot of depth. It really is worth reading all three and immersing yourself in cowboy culture. After I read the second volume I was sorry to find that young John Grady from the first book wasn't in it, and I had to get to know Billy Parham instead. This was no bad thing and now I have reached the third book I find I can read about both of them working on the same ranch. Time has moved on to the end of World War Two when John Grady is nineteen and Billy around thirty. Neither served in the war as John Grady was too young and Billy was turned down at three different recruiting stations because of a heart murmur. The ranch they are working on belongs to the very elderly Mr Johnson, who Billy has known all his life, and ...