Though The Mountains May Fall chronicles Mary and JamesÂ’ love against the backdrop of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in the 1880Â’s. Johnstown was a bustling community of hardworking people dedicated to the community and to each other. Enter the rich people from Pittsburgh and other parts of Pennsylvania seeking a refuge from the stresses of the business life. They establish a resort above Johnstown in the peaceful mountains near the small village of South Fork. Mary and James struggle to overcome these conflicts and be true to their love. As their love rises to new heights, so too does the peaceful lake they visit. Too soon, both come together in a climax as the dam breaks and the floodwaters rush towards Johnstown. The reader is driven along with the flood towards its final reckoning. Now all that awaits is destiny, for Mary, for James and for the people of Johnstown, Pennsylvania on that fateful day of May 31, 1889.