Lightning Strike

In January 1989, on his first day as the new sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota, Cork O'Connor reflects on the legacy of his father, Liam, who held the same office and was killed in the line of duty. At his swearing-in, the presence of Anishinaabe elder Henry Meloux and friend Sam Winter Moon signifies hope for justice. As Cork looks at the courthouse clock, frozen at the time of his father's death, he recalls the summer of 1963, when he began to understand the complexities of the man his father was.

The narrative shifts to that summer, when twelve-year-old Cork and his friend Jorge Patterson are hiking to a site called Lightning Strike. There, they discover the hanging body of Big John Manydeeds, a respected Ojibwe man. Cork's father, Sheriff Liam O'Connor, arrives and rules the death an apparent suicide, noting two empty Four Roses whiskey bottles nearby. For cultural reasons, Liam forgoes a full autopsy but requests a toxicology report. Later, he comforts a traumatized Cork, who cannot believe Big John would kill himself.

Big John's nephew, Billy Downwind, recently returned from California, asks Cork to go back to Lightning Strike with him. Billy believes his uncle's spirit is trapped there. During the visit, Cork is haunted by a glimpse of a massive, shadowy figure that vanishes instantly. Meanwhile, Liam's investigation reveals Big John's canoe is missing from his otherwise orderly cabin, and he finds a box full of empty Four Roses bottles. The initial toxicology report confirms a high blood alcohol level. Cork, visiting the mission cemetery, finds a scented note with the word Goodbye in Big John's open grave.

At Big John's wake, led by the Mide (healer) Henry Meloux, Cork notices that the pharmacist's wife, Babette Pflugleman, wears the same perfume as the note. Meloux advises Cork and Billy to follow the crumbs to find answers about Big John's spirit. The wake is disrupted by a drunken Oscar Manydeeds, Big John's half-brother, who accuses Liam of incompetence. Later, Liam reveals to his mother-in-law, Dilsey, that the evidence strongly suggests Big John had relapsed into alcoholism.

Cork, Billy, and Jorge question Mrs. Pflugleman, who identifies her perfume as Shalimar but denies visiting the grave. At the Glengarrow estate, owned by the powerful mine owner Duncan MacDermid, the boys are confronted by a belligerent MacDermid, who shows contempt for Billy's Anishinaabe heritage. At the funeral, Oscar produces a silver cigarette lighter found at Lightning Strike with the initials D.M. Sam Winter Moon later gives the lighter to Liam, who connects it to Duncan MacDermid. Liam, Sam, and Cork visit Henry Meloux, but the Mide refuses to reveal what Big John told him in a recent sweat lodge ceremony.

Cork smells the Shalimar perfume on Mary Margaret MacDermid at a bookstore. Liam questions Father Cameron Ferguson, who implies another MacDermid has been to confession. After Cork connects the perfume to both women, Liam forbids him from investigating further. Liam is then visited by Calvin LaRose, whose granddaughter, Louise, has run away from the Leech Lake Reservation. At Glengarrow, Cork and Jorge overhear a bruised Mary Margaret confessing to Jorge's mother, Carla, that she was having an affair with Big John and that her abusive husband, Duncan, knows. The revelation provides a motive for murder and creates a rift between Liam and Dilsey.

That night, a severely beaten Mary Margaret arrives at the O'Connors' home and confesses to shooting her husband, who is now dead. The shooting is ruled self-defense. The investigation is effectively closed until the boys find Big John's smashed canoe hidden in Spider Creek, suggesting a violent struggle. A judge, dismissing the case because Big John was just an Indian, refuses Liam's request for a search warrant for Glengarrow. Frustrated by the corrupt system, Liam briefly removes his badge, declaring that justice in Tamarack County is dead.

The body of the missing girl, Louise LaRose, is discovered in Moose Lake. An autopsy reveals she was murdered and her body weighed down. The full toxicology report on Big John shows he was drugged with pentobarbital, an animal euthanizing drug, not the barbiturate found at MacDermid's cottage. Suspicion shifts to Oscar Manydeeds, who uses the drug for horses at the lumber mill and has disappeared.

Cork finds Oscar hiding at Lightning Strike, and Liam arrives later, having tracked his son there. Oscar explains that his stables were broken into and the drug was likely stolen. The boys who stole the drugs are soon found, clearing Oscar. Cork, Billy, and Jorge get permission to go to Moose Lake to search for clues. At a campsite on Eagle Point, they find charred, beaded fabric and a gold Marine Corps medallion. Liam's investigation into the local supply of Four Roses whiskey leads him to Ben Svenson, owner of the Crooked Pine bar. He also learns from Moira Svenson that her husband, Doctor Dave Svenson, his brother Ben, and their friend, lawyer Nick Skinner, returned early from a fishing trip around the time of the murders.

Under questioning, Doctor Dave confesses. The three men, calling themselves The Three Musketeers, took Louise LaRose to Moose Lake. Big John found them and threatened to report them. Louise accidentally fell and hit her head; thinking she was dead, they sank her body, and she drowned. To silence Big John, they ambushed him at Spider Creek, sedated him with a pentobarbital dart, injected him with alcohol, and staged the suicide at Lightning Strike, planting evidence to frame Duncan MacDermid. Doctor Dave reveals that Ben and Nick have returned to Moose Lake to retrieve Ben's lost medallion.

At Moose Lake, Cork is confronted by Ben Svenson and Nick Skinner. As Svenson threatens him, the moon is suddenly blacked out, distracting the men and allowing Cork to escape into the water. Liam, Joe Meese, Sam, and Oscar arrive by canoe. In the ensuing confrontation, Liam shoots and kills Ben Svenson. Nick Skinner escapes; he is later jailed.

Weeks later, Jorge's family moves to California. The O'Connor family visits Henry Meloux, who speaks of finding peace and the light of memory. The epilogue jumps to October 1964. During a bank robbery, Liam is shot and killed while saving a civilian. At his funeral, Sam tells a grief-stricken Cork that his father was an ogichidaa—a warrior—and that Cork is one, too. Embittered, Cork vows he will never wear a badge.