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This is the quirky tale of a sleepy little town named Columbus.

Crouched by itself in a sea of grass high up on the North Dakota prairie, Columbus doesn’t even make it on many maps anymore. Populated by 100 aging but feisty citizens, this is a close knit community that revolves around the good things in life – handshakes, bingo, morning gossip at the local cafe about whose dog has been fouling the sidewalks and who’s been cheating at cards. Life in Columbus is about as apple pie as you can get.

But underneath its wholesome atmosphere this tiny town has been fighting to survive. A once thriving community, these days Columbus’ liveliest parties are funeral processions. Its youth and small hold farmers have fled to the bright city lights. This has resulted in a quiet disappearance, a withering away of the landscape until all that is left are vast swaths of lonely countryside peppered with abandoned farms and ghosts of the past.

But all that is about to change. Columbus is sitting on black gold. The old folks of Columbus are the unwitting owners of part of the United State’s most significant oil discovery in recent history. But is Columbus ready for oil?

Told through the voices of the locals, grumpy old men who have seen the rise and the fall of this tiny town, Columbus: Oil Rigs and American Dreams provides a rare window into a dying town as oil enters the picture.