Ardis Cole braves a sudden blizzard on her way to the isolated Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation to help her friend, Ella White Owl, locate her missing niece. Carrie, an art teacher at Shadow Pass High School, appears to have simply vanished without a trace. Medicine man Jim Walks Alone shares with Ardis his disturbing vision about a "killer of eagles," which to the Sioux represents an evil person, and a destroyer of all that is good.

Ardis soon finds the girl's wrecked car deep in the canyon, a dead man who was shot through the head was behind the wheel. But there is no sign of Carrie. Ardis' search for Carrie leads her on a hunt for a rare relic stolen from the local church, a wild chase through the badlands, and a face-to-face confrontation with the "killer of eagles."