American short story writer and poet Raymond Carver is considered one of the major influential American writers of the late twentieth century and a significant player in revamping the short story in the 1980s. He attended the prestigious Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa and found a mentor in novelist John Gardner. As Carver and his family moved around the country, and he took various jobs, his alcoholism reached its peak. He lost his family and almost hit rock bottom before he had a "rebirth" and quit the dangerous habit in 1977. This new life led him to poet Tess Gallagher with whom he spent the rest of his short life.

In Carver Country, Raymond Carver's gritty text is combined with Bob Adelman's stunning and bare-boned photographs of Carver's people and haunts to re-create the world of this famously minimalistic writer--a man tormented by his own demons, who used his creativity and the atmosphere around him to cope with the world. Together the text and photographs bring to life the bleak blue-collar towns and people that become a great inspiration for much of Carver's writings.