  Counting independent sets in graphs and hypergraphs under a variety of
restrictions is a classical question with a long history. It is the subject of
the celebrated container method which found numerous spectacular applications
over the years. We consider the question of how many independent sets we can
have in a graph under structural restrictions. We show that any $n$-vertex
graph with independence number $\alpha$ without $bK_a$ as an induced subgraph
has at most $n^{O(1)} \cdot \alpha^{O(\alpha)}$ independent sets. This
substantially improves the trivial upper bound of $n^{\alpha},$ whenever
$\alpha \le n^{o(1)}$ and gives a characterization of graphs forbidding of
which allows for such an improvement. It is also in general tight up to a
constant in the exponent since there exist triangle-free graphs with
$\alpha^{\Omega(\alpha)}$ independent sets. We also prove that if one in
addition assumes the ground graph is chi-bounded one can improve the bound to
$n^{O(1)} \cdot 2^{O(\alpha)}$ which is tight up to a constant factor in the
exponent.
