When Father John O'Malley's pickup breaks down on a lonely reservation road in the midst of a blizzard, the pastor at St. Francis Mission starts out for the highway and stumbles on a body wrapped in a tarp and thrown into a ditch. By the time he returns with the police, the body has disappeared.

Somewhere on the Wind River Reservation is a corpse that has not received a proper burial. The Arapahos believe the spirit cannot find its way to the ancestors in the Sky World without the traditional ceremonies. Lost and frantic, the spirit walks the earth trying to get to the Sky World on its own and causing a great deal of mischief.

But neither Father John nor Vicky Holden, the Arapaho lawyer, believe a ghost is behind the sudden disappearance of Marcus Deppert, a convicted drug-dealer. Nor is a ghost responsible for the merciless murder of the young man's ex- girlfriend.

Despite his own troubles—his beloved St. Francis Mission is about to be sold to outside interests with major development plans—Father John can't forget the lonely body in the ditch. Fearing it was Marcus, he's determined to find out what happened to the young man. As he follows Marcus's trail, he realizes someone is following him....

And he suspects that Susan Holden, Vicky's rebellious, drug- addicted daughter, could be involved in murder—and could be the next intended victim. To protect her daughter, Vicky is willing to pay any price—even that of her own life. The friendship between Father John and Vicky nears the breaking point as they draw upon the Arapaho Way for the help they need to stop a killer, explain the inexplicable, and, finally, put a ghost to rest.