In Montana's Madison Valley just after the Fourth of July, Deputy Sheriff Harold Little Feather and Hyalite County sheriff Martha Ettinger are investigating a horrific scene at the Palisades cliffs where a herd of bison have jumped to their deaths in a ritualistic hunting practice. Also found dead is a young Native American man whose intestines are ripped out, and his leg pierced with an arrow. Meanwhile, fly fisherman, painter, and sometime private detective Sean Stranahan is helping the beautiful Ida Evening Star to find her old flame John Running Boy.