A young man, born and raised in Brooklyn, drifts along with no idea of his future goals. But when his well-to-do parents die in a tragic accident off the cliffs of California's Big Sur coastline, he finds himself driving west to attend their funeral. On the way, he stays in a small Arizona town called Holbrook. Near his motel he meets a strange woman who runs a small diner and an even stranger man with a special story to tell about his white Mormon parents coming to Navajo country to save the Indians from their supposedly heathen ways. And about how he grew up respecting the way of the Navajo. Confused by his now bi-cultural heritage, he commits an unspeakable crime. His bride-to-be, a Navajo girl, then perishes in a catastrophic flood. Years later, when this strange man convinces our traveler to write the tale into a book, they return to the scene of the flood to better understand his memories and to face the futures they may or may not live to experience.