The town gate was like the town hall or market place and is where business and legal matters were often settled. Boaz met with the "family guardian" and had ten elders as witnesses, so everything was clearly above board. Boaz related the events of what had happened with Naomi and Ruth.
There are two possibilities with redeeming the land. One is that Naomi was so hard up that she needed to sell it. The other, and I think the more likely, is that the land had already been sold during the time of famine. Now when land was sold the original family could redeem it, but Naomi could not afford to do this. So her family then had the right to do this.
The "family guardian" was willing to do this, but Boaz then mentions that this would mean taking Ruth as well to maintain the family name. Then the guardian is not keen to take the land. So Boaz redeemed the land and took Ruth as his wife. So everything was done properly.
Ruth and Boaz had a child who was to be the father of Jesse who in turn was the father of David.
The book closes with a short genealogy of David.
This book emphasises the importance of family, and not just the nuclear family.
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