The corpse had been "scalped," its palms and soles removed after death. Sergeant Jim Chee, a thoughtful Native American detective for the Navajo Tribal Police, knows immediately he will have his hands full with this case, a certainty that is supported by the disturbing occurrences to follow. A mysterious nighttime plane crash, a vanishing shipment of cocaine, and a bizarre attack on a windmill only intensify Chee’s fears. A dark and very ill wind is blowing through the Southwestern desert, a gale driven by whispers of Navajo witchcraft and white man’s greed. And it will sweep away everything unless Chee can somehow change the weather.