Katie Reynolds, a young veterinary doctor from California is asked to find a disease spreading from animals to people in the war ravaged hills of Kurdistan, causing the unlucky people to scratch at themselves, howl at the moon, and bark at intruders. Although the study is dangerous, Katie wants to participate. She knows that helping these foreign villages will give her better insight into guiding the health of her own people, the Dine', the Navajo Indians of the Southwestern United States. Unexpectedly, Katie finds herself cast into a horrible survival predicament. To stay alive in this backward and primitive world, she must become someone else, assuming an identity having more power and wealth than she ever imagined. These gifts are hers, they are freely offered to Katie as long as she can satisfy these people's ancient beliefs in their divine gods.