Joe and his father Bazil pull saplings from their yard while Geraldine's prolonged absence on a Sunday grows worrying.

Joe and Bazil return home to find Geraldine slumped and bleeding in the family car, barely conscious.

At the hospital, Joe overhears that his mother has been raped and will require surgery.

Tribal police, local law enforcement, and the FBI all arrive at the hospital and dispute who has jurisdiction over the attack.

Joe and Bazil sort through stacks of old court cases at home, searching for clues to Geraldine's attacker.

Joe goes alone to the round house and wades into the lake, pulling a gas can from the bottom.

Joe and Bazil visit Linda Wishkob at the post office and persuade her to join them for coffee.

Joe and Bazil offer Linda Wishkob ice cream and banana bread, and she tells them about her adoption and Linden's dangerous behavior.

Bazil moves a dining table into Geraldine's bedroom and begins holding nightly family dinners there to draw her out.

Geraldine finally speaks, revealing the full story of her attack, Mayla's involvement, and how she wet the matches to escape.

Linden Lark is arrested after evidence and Geraldine's willingness to cooperate points to him as the attacker.

Linden Lark is released from jail because Geraldine cannot confirm exactly where the attack took place.

Joe and Bazil encounter Linden at a grocery store; Bazil attacks Linden and collapses with a heart attack.

Joe shoots Linden twice on the golf course but fails to kill him, and Cappy fires the fatal shot.

Cappy falls asleep at the wheel during the road trip to find Zelia and dies in the crash.

Geraldine Coutts is raped and nearly murdered while retrieving a file, sending her family's world into turmoil. Her husband Bazil, a tribal judge, and their thirteen-year-old son Joe struggle to identify the attacker while confronting a tangled web of legal jurisdiction. Joe discovers a crucial gas can at the round house, and together he and Bazil piece together the identity of Linden Lark through old court cases and a key witness. Though Linden is briefly arrested after Geraldine agrees to cooperate, he is released on a legal technicality, leaving the family without justice. Driven to desperation, Joe and his friend Cappy take matters into their own hands and kill Linden on a golf course. In the aftermath, Joe must live with what he has done, while a tragic accident claims Cappy's life.

The headline events of Joe's quest to avenge his mother.

Joe sneaks into his father's study while Bazil naps and reads Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law.

Aunt Clemence comforts Joe in the hospital lobby and answers his questions about rape without mincing words.

Cappy gives Joe a thunderbird egg stone for strength when Joe returns to school after his mother's attack.

Joe comes home to find the milk has soured and is accidentally struck by his frightened, confused mother.

Bazil tells Joe that the attacker used wet matches and that a spare car key Bazil hid saved Geraldine's life.

Bazil deliberately cooks a terrible dinner to coax Geraldine into wanting to take over cooking for the family again.

Cappy accidentally throws chili powder into the sweathouse fire, causing an explosion and sending the men running out naked.

Angus wanders off in the woods near the round house and discovers a hidden chest containing beer and clothing.

The boys spy on Father Travis watching Aliens through his window, and Travis catches them and interrogates them inside his home.

The lake near the round house is drained and Mayla's car is found, containing a dress that matches the doll's fabric.

Mooshum accidentally catches his hair on fire while celebrating at Clemence's party.

Geraldine learns that Mayla's infant child was safely left at a Goodwill store, and she agrees to testify against Linden.

Sonja performs a striptease for Mooshum at Clemence's house and afterward tells Joe he objectifies her just like other men.

Cappy teaches Joe to shoot using his father's hidden shotgun while his family is away from home.

Joe sees the ghost again while holding Cappy's body after the crash, and the ghost tells him to let go.

While the main investigation unfolds, Joe navigates the quiet devastation of home life after his mother's attack, from spoiled milk to terrible dinners cooked by a helpless Bazil. His friends provide crucial support and stumble upon their own clues, from Angus finding hidden clothes near the round house to the boys' comical confrontation with Father Travis. As the investigation deepens, pivotal secondary discoveries fill in the picture, including Mayla's car found in the drained lake with a dress matching the doll Joe had retrieved. Geraldine's fragile progress includes agreeing to testify once she learns Mayla's child is safe, only for Linden's release to push her back into withdrawal. Sonja's striptease and eventual departure mark a painful coming-of-age moment for Joe, who also grows harder as Cappy teaches him to shoot. The pool closes with Joe cradling his best friend after a fatal crash, a ghost urging him to let go.

The everyday moments and secondary discoveries that shaped Joe's journey.

Joe verbally attacks a racist pregnant woman in the hospital lobby and tears up her magazine in rage.

Randall tells Joe he saw a strange threatening man in his sweathouse vision and that the man is warning Joe of something.

Bazil sneaks up behind Geraldine out of old habit; she drops a casserole and retreats upstairs, and Joe realizes nothing will be the same.

Bazil tells Joe he believes the round house is the site of the attack based on where the matches were found.

Joe sees a frightening ghostly figure outside his bedroom window during the night.

Joe visits Mooshum, who tells him to go out and find his luck, sending Joe back to the round house.

Joe retrieves a doll from the lake at the round house and finds forty thousand dollars hidden inside its head.

Joe and Sonja iron and count the money, open accounts at multiple banks, and agree to keep the discovery secret.

An FBI agent reveals that the beer and clothing found near the round house belong to a harmless local man, not the attacker.

Bazil casually mentions the South Dakota governor's effort to adopt a Native American child at dinner, and a silent Geraldine suddenly begins to speak.

Cappy confides to Joe that he and Zelia have been romantically involved and that she has now returned to Montana.

Bazil persuades Joe that tribal law, with all its flaws, is the only foundation they have and must be preserved.

Joe asks Linda Wishkob about Linden's routine and learns that Linden golfs alone early every morning.

Joe stages a fake burglary at Cappy's house to steal the shotgun and hides it in the nearby woods.

Linda Wishkob finds the shotgun hidden under her porch and arranges for it to be disassembled and scattered along the highway.

From Joe's furious outburst at a racist woman in the hospital lobby to Randall's ominous sweathouse vision, early signs point to the upheaval ahead for the Coutts family. A key domestic moment—Bazil's habitual scare sending Geraldine fleeing upstairs—shows Joe that nothing will ever be the same, while Bazil's theory about the round house narrows the investigation. Supernatural encounters and ancestral guidance lead Joe back to the lake, where he discovers forty thousand dollars hidden inside a doll, a find that ties directly to Mayla and the crime. A pivotal dinner-table mention of the South Dakota governor finally unlocks Geraldine's silence, but Linden's subsequent release forces Joe toward vigilante justice. With Linda Wishkob's help identifying Linden's golf routine, Joe and Cappy plan and carry out the killing, and Linda later quietly destroys the evidence. These turning points and revelations form the moral and narrative spine of the entire story.