Three men raid the gambling casino run by the Ute nation and then disappear into the maze of canyons on the Utah-Arizona border. When the FBI with its helicopters and high-tech equipment focuses on a wounded deputy sheriff as a possible suspect Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and his longtime colleague retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn launch an investigation of their own. Chee sees a dangerous flaw in the federal theory; Leaphorn sees intriguing connections to the exploits of a legendary Ute bandit-hero. And together they find themselves caught up in the most perplexing -- and deadly -- criminal manhunt of their lives.