Kanab, Utah is bitterly divided by the politics of land management. When environmentalist David Greenbriar is found dead, County Sheriff, Charley Sutter, seeks help from newly appointed Law Enforcement Ranger, J. D. Books. Books discovers that the victim’s widow has been having an affair with Lance Clayburn. Physical evidence links Clayburn to the killing. Books connects Greenbriar’s murder to a corrupt Kane County Sheriff’s deputy and a Las Vegas business conglomerate with ties to organized crime. Enter Peter Deluca, a very dangerous mob contract killer, who will eliminate anyone who can link him or his employer to Greenbriar’s murder.

Third generation Utah residents Rolly and Abigail Rogers come from a long line of dedicated pot hunters who scour the desert southwest in search of valuable antiquities. When the couple fails to return from a weekend "skeleton picnic" along the desolate Arizona Strip, local Sheriff Charley Sutter turns to Bureau of Land Management Law Enforcement Ranger J.D. Books for help. Searching for clues, Books discovers the couple's house has been burglarized and a valuable collection of ancient Anasazi and Fremont Indian antiquities stolen. Then the Rogers' truck and trailer are found at an abandoned campsite near a recently excavated Anasazi ruin. Footprints and other evidence suggest the couple may have been overpowered by a group of assailants. Books and Sutter's attractive young deputy Beth Tanner investigate. Could the disappearance of the Rogers be the responsibility of a shadowy group of armed Indian police? Soon Books' own survival skills are tested. The hunter becomes the hunted, and only one person gets to go home alive.