In 1965, fugitive Ray Shawnack was supposed to have died in a blaze that consumed a trading post. But many years later, Lt. Joe Leaphorn is sent a picture of a tribal rug that was also thought to have burned in the fire. Further investigation leads to the lodge of a big-game hunter who has the rug hanging on his wall. What is the connection between the hunter and the newfound rug? And if the rug survived, could the supposedly dead Shawnack have escaped the conflagration as well?