A Marker on Huff Creek is a fictional account based on historical facts. The focal point is a small stone marker that commemorates an unsolved murder which took place in Jackson County, Indiana in 1892. The murder is tied to many events related in the story. The authors characterize the marker as a symbol of the Huff Creek Valley, and the Valley as a microcosm of the grand phenomenon of Manifest Destiny. As an almost unimaginable migration swept into the region – some to stay, and others to pass on through – a wilderness was converted into civilization.