"In Dubious Battle" portrays the struggle between labor and capital in 1930s America as close to all out warfare. Set in a fictionalized valley in California, the story explores themes Steinbeck continued to develop: group behavior, social injustice and man's inhumanity to man. A labor conflict between migrant apple pickers and the local growers' association is the backdrop against which Jim Nolan (Franco) becomes involved in the labor movement and rapidly matures as he learns what it means to do organizational fieldwork.