Spring snow still clings to the teeth of Montana's Crazy Mountains when a Santa hat, found in the fireplace ashes of a rented cabin, leads to the discovery of a body in the chimney place. The body belongs to a teenage girl, Cindy, a rising rodeo star. Hyalite County sheriff Martha Ettinger has been hunting for the girl since she went missing the previous November. Was Cindy murdered? Or was she running for her life? Suspicion falls on the mountain man who calls himself Bear Paw Bill. But Cindy's mother thinks the evil might be closer to home.