Indian tribal policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee investigate a casino robbery which killed a guard and wounded another. A manhunt takes them into the canyons of the Four Corners, a region bordering Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Nothing had seemed complicated about the old "Golden Calf" case. A con game had gone sour. Wealthy old Wiley Denton had shot the swindler, called the police, confessed, and done his short prison time. No mystery there, except why did the rich man's bride vanish? And now, papers found by Sergeant Jim Chee and Officer Bernie Manuelito in a new homicide case connect the victim to Denton and to the mythical Golden Calf Mine.