New clues in an old, unsolved murder case lead Deputy Sheriff Manny Rivera from Moab, Utah, to a small, remote village in the mountains of northern New Mexico. With reluctant and sometimes non-existent assistance from the local sheriff, he enters a community of people unwilling to open up with him because of a centuries-old distrust of outsiders-outsiders were the ones who stole their land grant. He slowly penetrates their hardened attitude toward strangers and learns about a series of bizarre events which took place there fifteen years ago. As layers of the case are peeled away, he begins to understand the complexities behind a number of mysterious deaths. Local cultural beliefs-superstitions, witches, evil spells, owl power, a secret religious organization, and a strange saint-stymie his progress, complicate his investigation, and threaten his life.