When P.I. Lena Jones's Pima Indian partner Jimmy Sisiwan is arrested in the remote northern Arizona town of Walapai Flats, Lena rushes to his aid. She finds a town up in arms over a new uranium mine located only ten miles from the magnificent Grand Canyon. Jimmy's sister-in-law, founder of Victims of Uranium Mining, has been murdered, and the opposing side is taking hits too. Then Ike Donohue, the mine's public relations flack, is found shot to death, casting suspicion on Jimmy and his entire family.

Lena finds not only a community decimated by dangerous mining practices, but a connection to actor John Wayne and the mysterious deaths tied to the 1953 filming of The Conqueror. Now it's up to Lena to uncover the decades-old tragedy no one in Walapai Flats wants to discuss.