The Boys of Cortlandt & The Iron Men of Croton is a story that follows two sets of friends from the two eras and examines their friendships and the theory of historic recurrence, or the repetition of patterns through heredity and ancestry. In a subtle way the novel examines the potential of Nietzsche's beliefs of connectivity through time as it may include personality, human behavior, family, and ancestry/ heredity and how culture may also repeat.

The story revolves around New York City's overwhelming thirst for fresh water and its effects on the lives of people in the 19th, 20th and 21st century Croton River Valley and the Town of Cortlandt. The origin of the Hamilton and Burr feud plays a role. Actual historical settings are blended with people's lives, facts, and events from the 1830s & 40s and the 1960s &70s.

The book takes care to reflect actual historical details, facts, science, and public health. Fictional exaggerations are intermingled with actual historical interactions and events bringing the historic periods to life.