In Country is a phrase that refers to Vietnam from the soldier's viewpoint. The story's central character is Samantha, a spunky teenager who lives with her Uncle Emmet, a moody Vietnam vet. She never knew her father who was killed in Vietnam, but he becomes very real to her after she finds the letters he had written her mother. Samantha becomes obsessed with the war. She knows other Nam vets, friends of Emmet's, and she becomes increasingly curious about why they have different problems and seem to be set apart from the other people in their small Kentucky town.