McKee honks as he approaches Ben Yazzie’s hogan and drives slowly around the property, which looks deserted. He parks and steps outside for a cigarette to consider his next move. He admires the location of Yazzie’s hogan next to an ancient cliff and near enough grass to feed his herd, but he wonders what scared the man away from such a prime spot. He sees a large cloud forming and threatening to rain, so he moves to leave, but the smell of decay stops him. He follows a low rustling sound and surprises a flock of ravens scavenging on five dead sheep in one of Yazzie’s pens. As he drives back to camp, McKee considers that a wild animal probably attacked the sheep, but Yazzie will likely blame a witch rather than own up to the shame of not protecting his flock. Though the scene upset him, McKee is happy he has new evidence for his scapegoat theory. However, he remembers how secure the pen was, and how an animal couldn’t possibly break in. He chastises himself for not inspecting the pen further to confirm his theories.

He drives through the region where the ancient Anasazi people built homes on the canyon slopes to avoid flash flooding. The imminent rain worries McKee, whose supplies are unprotected. When he arrives at camp, he sees Canfield’s camper is gone. He finds a note in their tent that Canfield drove into town to help an injured man. The note concerns McKee, as Canfield signed his name incorrectly as John, not Jeremy.

Sandoval, a Singer, performs an Enemy Way ceremony for Charley Tsosie’s family in their heated hogan. He tells Charley to sit near a sand painting as he sings over him and waits for medicine to boil. Sandoval learned how to conduct the ceremony from his father and takes pride in its rituals, though he’s sad he must teach Charley so much. The two-day long ceremony exhausts him at 81 years old. He offers the medicine to the Tsosies and explains that the family must wait until they see the top of the sun and vomit, using a feather if it doesn’t come naturally.

Sandoval rests outside. He surveys the hundreds of people visiting and laments that most are there for a party rather than for spirituality. A Law and Order officer, Leaphorn, arrives and introduces himself. Leaphorn discusses many topics before getting to his question, which Sandoval appreciates, since patience is a traditional value. Leaphorn asks about the Enemy Way and how it can be conducted without a personal token from the witch. Sandoval claims they know enough about the witch, since Tsosie saw it. They don’t suspect Horseman of being the witch, and Sandoval suggests the young man’s manner of death isn’t traditional for killing a witch anyways. Charley returns to the hogan, and as Sandoval follows him, he asks Leaphorn whether he truly believes in witches. Leaphorn recites the Navajo story of how witchcraft was brought into the world, but Sandoval senses the man has no faith.

Leaphorn returns to his truck and ruminates over the motive for Horseman’s murder, since he was just a troubled boy caught between cultures. He knows the clan must be sure about the witch because they spent so much money on the ceremony. Smoke exits the hogan, and Leaphorn imagines Sandoval’s performance. The people cooking, horse racing, and gossiping remind him of his own Blessing Way ceremonies held before he went overseas in the military. The ceremony continues into the afternoon, and Leaphorn questions people around the camp, though he learns nothing new.

Charley’s wife exits the hogan so the men and women can prepare separately for the scalp shooting. The family hired a professional Scalp Shooter, though Leaphorn suspects they’ll be using a symbolic scalp. He follows the Tsosie men, Sandoval, and the Scalp Shooter and watches them stab a large black hat with raven’s beaks. He realizes the Wolf must be the Big Navajo from Shoemaker’s, since he’s a stranger who’s missing his hat. A bolt of lightning strikes above the Lukachukais, ushering in the end of the ceremony. Leaphorn wonders if the Enemy Way will kill the Wolf, or whether Billy Nez will find the man first.

A bolt of lightning strikes near McKee’s camp and rain pelts down, threatening his meal and reminding him of his Nebraska childhood. His mind returns to Canfield’s note, which both worries and annoys him. As sunset falls, he looks over his notes and plans to stay at camp until Canfield returns, since Ellen Leon is visiting in the morning. He undresses and slips into bed. The darkness makes him feel intensely alone, like a recurring nightmare he has of falling through a void. He recalls the Navajo stories of the constellations and listens uneasily to the animals around him before drifting off to sleep.

The sound of falling pebbles wakes McKee in the middle of the night, and he quickly dresses to survey the camp. He calms his fear, but the string of recent strange events keeps him on edge. He slowly maneuvers up the nearby cliff and conceals himself amongst the shadows. Looking down at the camp, he sees movement and watches a man wearing a wolf pelt emerge from the bushes. The man carries a pistol and sneaks around, inspecting the tent and McKee’s truck. McKee picks up a rock in case he must fight, but he doesn’t want to confront the man. Suddenly, the man address McKee and tells him that John Canfield is hurt, but McKee stays silent. The man disappears and runs away along the canyon floor.

After more hours of unsuccessful interviews, a teen captures Leaphorn for the Girl Dance. As they dance, the girl tells him that Billy Nez is the Scalp Carrier who tracked the Wolf and stole his hat. She gives Billy’s description, and when the dance ends, Leaphorn spots Billy and his young cousin in the crowd. He approaches and asks to talk about how Billy tracked the Wolf. Billy describes how he and his uncle first met the Wolf in the mid-spring when the man approached them in his Land Rover. He warned the men that there were witches in the region, but he had trouble communicating with Billy’s uncle because he didn’t speak Navajo or Spanish.

A week later, a coyote followed Billy’s uncle, and later that night, the Wolf tramped on the hogan’s roof. Billy’s uncle tried confronting the Wolf, but he had already run away. A few days later, the Wolf watched Billy’s uncle as he grazed the sheep, and when he tracked the witch, he found his boot prints and tire tracks. The Wolf returned at night and hacked at two horses’ tendons, and days later, he shot into the pen of sheep. Leaphorn is shocked by this information, though he’s glad to have a crime to charge the man with. The incidents frightened Billy’s uncle, so he abandoned the hogan and gathered a group of men at Billy’s family’s hogan. A Hand Trembler determined his uncle was haunted by the witch, so they prescribed an Enemy Way. Billy convinced the men to let him be the Scalp Carrier, so his uncle taught him the Tracking Bear Song and showed him what the tire tracks looked like. Billy draws the tracks in the mud for Leaphorn. It took Billy almost a week to find the Wolf on Ceniza Mesa. As the man cleared boulders and trees from a path, Billy stole the hat from his truck and carried it home on a stick.

Leaphorn turns the conversation to Horseman. Billy sullenly shares that his late brother was hiding near Many Ruins Canyon, but he wasn’t there when Billy went to tell him about the stabbed man’s recovery. Billy inspected Horseman’s campsite and found all his food left behind; he also saw the Wolf’s tire tracks, leading him to believe the witch killed Horseman. Leaphorn warns Billy against hunting the witch before the boy leaves to dance. Leaphorn considers the boy’s information and hopes he’ll be able to arrest the Big Navajo before Billy kills him.