Why did French colonial builders in different corners of the New World arrive at different kinds of houses? Edwards puts that question to three settlement zones: Saint Domingue in the Caribbean, the Illinois Country of upper Louisiana, and Louisiana's lower reaches.

The method is to treat propositions drawn from culture theory as claims to be tested rather than assumed. Founder's effect, syncretism between cultures, and preadaptation are each weighed against what is documented about how vernacular traditions formed and how the ordinary settler's house changed shape over time.

At issue throughout is how far such broad cultural processes account for the variation.