Burntwood Prairie, Minnesota-1992: A catastrophe lurks when two old friends reunite for the first time in a decade.
After topping off an event-filled weekend with a splash of skinny-dipping, the excitement turns to despair when Maria Richardson is murdered. Margo Toralf is shocked that her only pal from childhood days, who still shared her dream of building a horse ranch together, was tragically killed. Her initial shock regresses into a prolonged state of depression. Additionally, the crime thrusts Sheriff Anders' re-election campaign into jeopardy. Having an unsolved murder just before the November election is an embarrassment for Anders. Bill Clinton easily wins the presidency, but Homer Anders barely achieves victory. Still mourning but determined to keep her dream alive, Margo secretly buys her father's farm, against the wishes of her deputy-boyfriend Stanley Nelson, then purchases a broodmare from Charley Day, the Indian horse trader. Her longtime dream is shaping up, but her nightmare is about to begin. She gets abducted by Maria's killer, but in a reversal of misfortunes, the murderer is the one who dies. She slips away from the scene but cannot escape the vivid replays of the desperate night that will not stop torturing her mind. When Stanley Nelson moves in, her fear of getting arrested spikes. She can't tell him anything. By morning, her Appaloosa foals in the snow, triggering her fear that investigators will soon uncover the corpse, which lies beneath a snowdrift at the speed trap. Her fear of Sheriff Anders, the lawman who sent her younger brother to prison, also plays upon her mind. To what lengths will her parents go in order to shield her from the law? Is she guilty? Will the sheriff lock her up, or will Stanley exonerate her? Is she crazy? Does he still love her? And what about the Ojibwe horse trader and his dreamcatcher? Will he make her dream come true?