Saw this film yesterday with a group of five (wife and friends).
Actually enjoyed it except for all the bible-thumping which seemed completely unnecessary. People love happy endings, though.
I don't think I missed anything, but it was never revealed where the "little town of 24,000" was. Season timeline changed, but the visible season never did. And cityscape shots of the unidentified town (other than by fictitious name) are of someplace seemingly with a population bigger than 24,000.
Easy to overlook all that and just enjoy the easily understandable plot, so the turnoff for all five of us was the biblical theme.