Kinsella's Man is a novel of the West, centered in east-central Nevada. Its principal character is John Siloa, a young Basque sheepherder who comes to work on the Phoenix Ranch, the vast holding of Cyril Kinsella, a figure shrouded in mystery and sorrow.

An old man, immured in the great stone house which has become both his refuge and the badge of his despair, Kinsella lives in a world haunted by his past. Slowly, Siloa becomes entangled in Kinsella's life and in the lives of those on whom Kinsella has left his mark: Deirdre, daughter of the owner; Booker Goodman, the genial yet troubled black foreman; Suzanne Devereaux, Kinsella's one-time mistress; and Martin, the son he refuses to acknowledge.

Succeeding Booker Goodman as Kinsella's confidant and agent, Siloa listens long into the night as the old man and his whiskey reveal the history that binds these people together. Siloa moves uneasily between his roles of actor and witness while at the same time struggling with his own complex feelings as Deirdre grows into a woman.