This house in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina is equipped with a typical residential protection installation. The tan plastic moldings on the pointed rods are for decorative purposes:

The rods are placed at intervals along the peak of the roof, with cables running down to grounded bars:

Braided heavy-gauge wire makes up the cables:

Each cable is connected to its own ground rod, buried deep into the earth beside the house:

Lightning protection systems don't attract or prevent lightning. The tree on the far left of this photo, only 50 feet or so from the rod-equipped house, was struck by lightning and severely damaged. Part of the tree has already been removed: