Gil Maier drives into the north central Iowa town of Monrovia. He’s been hired by Ole Torvaldsson, general manager of the local farmer-owned cooperative Northern Star Farmers Cooperative, to the newly-created position of assistant manager. Gil had been a superintendent at a cooperative out in western Nebraska and jumped at the chance to return to the part of the country where he grew up. He arrives at the office on Railroad Street and notices Ole carefully storing a laptop in an office wall safe.