Along the Rio Grande, a dozen bodies fester in the sun. Harlan Two-Trees discovers the massacre, but wants nothing to do with it. Mistrusted by the whites who run Caliche Bend and estranged from the Navajo, Harlan heads west to California - to freedom. But the Rio Grande's bloody baptism does not wash off so easily. And soon, Harlan has a new goal - to stagger out of the desert alive . . .