For generations at Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, they usually saw only one thing: coal. The thick seams beneath the ground were torn open and tons of black rock were dug out and shipped out, making Muhlenberg at one time the richest mineral-producing county on the nation. Families assumed that their destiny and prosperity were as fixed as the stars. Coal was king. With the collapse of the coal market and closing of the mines in the '70's and '80's, residents of Muhlenberg were forced to adapt, to tough it out, to improvise, to endure. The deeper, truer seams of their lives, the ones based on faith, family and neighborliness, came into view. Character was bedrock.