Colorado Bureau of Investigation consultant C.W. Blakenship's main adversary from the previous year's fight over the F-Bar ranch's water rights returns to the valley intent on finishing his destruction of the ranch and killing Blakenship, the only lawman who had ever come close to catching him. Jessie, Blakenship's wife, drawing on her Ute heritage calls him a skinwalker because of his ability to operate without being seen. The conflict draws in a number players — some innocent, some not so — culminating in a dramatic confrontation, the aftereffects of which ripple from New England through Texas to California.