Since his retirement from the Navajo Tribal Police, former lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is running out of stories to tell at the weekly coffee klatches with his buddies. That is until he gets sucked into helping investigate what at first seems to be a simple trading post robbery. The simple-minded kid nailed for the crime is related to a former colleague of Joe's, and he needs help. Sergeant Jim Chee and his fiancé Bernie are also on the case, which turns into a search for the remains of a passenger on one of the planes that went down into the Grand Canyon 50 years ago. That passenger happened to have handcuffed to his wrist an attaché case filled with a fortune in diamonds - one of which turned up in the robbery. Lots of bad guys are looking for the gems, and it's a race to the finish during a monsoon in the canyon to see who will survive and who will be brought to justice.