Over a long Fourth of July weekend, Joby Shelton, a history teacher in Wisconsin, returns to his hometown, Prairie View, South Dakota, for his father's funeral. While fishing and disposing of his father's ashes, he witnesses from a distance a fight between two men, one of whom is apparently drowned. When he tries to explain what he has seen to his old friend and nemesis Chief of Police Bernie Moser, he isn't taken seriously. He meets and falls in love with a young English teacher at the local high school. He also reunites with friends from his youth-Gillie Swartz, now a corporate lawyer in Sioux City, Iowa; Beegee, a former girlfriend and now wife of Bernie Moser; and Billy Bone Clubs, a Sioux giant and would-be artist. The plot thickens when the body of George Charboneaux, a militant reservation Sioux, is discovered by two Indian boys miles west of the Sioux Reservoir. Al Scioto, a Chicago underling and paid killer, comes to Prairie View to see how his boss's investment is progressing, and tries to extricate himself and his local partner from the mess that has been created. The whole thing comes to a head on the evening of the Fourth of July and culminates in a standoff on top of Rattlesnake Butte, a west-river landmark.
