In The Model Gardener, Schiffer explores the life of a farming family living on an isolated farmstead, what he calls their kingdom: "like a kingdom out of a fairy tale, and Kerekas (the head of the family) is a fairy tale ruler--reigning over five enormous forcing sheds covering an area of some 3,000 square metres....sixty tons of tomatoes... (But) never has the world seen such a forsaken, fragile kingdom..." Debtors line up along its frontiers; more often than not, the Tomato King hasn't even the money to buy oil for heating. Schiffer, taking his cues from Kerekas himself, depicts the modern day farmer as a gambler, a dreamer, whose dwindling strength and declining health belie the schemes that run around in his brain, where a remnant of ancient tradition does survive.