Plot summary
Riders of the Purple Sage is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah, around 1870-71.
Jane Withersteen, a born-and-raised Mormon, provokes Elder Tull because she is attractive, wealthy (and single), and befriends "Gentiles" (non-Mormons), namely, a little girl named Fay Larkin, a man she has hired named Bern Venters, and another hired man named Jim Lassiter. Elder Tull, a polygamist with two wives already, wishes to have Jane for a third wife, along with her estate.
The story involves cattle-rustling, horse-theft, kidnapping and gunfights.
During World War II the novel was rejected for publication as an Armed Services Editions paperback provided to US servicemen because of its perceived bias against Mormonism.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Riders of the Purple Sage. Section headings and formatting adjusted.