The story involves four Blackfeet men who are haunted by the spirit of a female elk they killed ten years ago. The four men, Ricky, Lewis, Gabe, and Cassidy are childhood friends. Ricky and Lewis have relocated from the Blackfeet reservation while Gabe and Cassidy have stayed in the reservation. Ten years after moving out of the reservation, Ricky decides to join other bargoers to enjoy drinks in a certain pub. During the course of imbibing the liquor, Ricky gets out for a short call. Suddenly, he hears a commotion in the parking lot. Before understanding what is happening, white men get out of the bar and beat him to death.
Lewis is also haunted by the elk spirit. One day, when he is fixing a bulb he perceives an illusion of an elk analogous to that he killed ten years ago. The elk startles him and over the next few days, he ponders the next course of action. It is during this time that readers get a clear picture of what happened ten years ago. Lewis begins explaining to his white wife, Peta, and his colleague, Shaney, about the events that occurred while they were teenagers. A decade ago, Lewis and his three friends engaged in a mission of hunting. During the time, they spotted a herd of elk and gave it a chase. The four boys chased the group of elk until they crossed an area preserved only for elders.
At the bottom of a hill, they sprayed the herd with bullets. However, one elk was hesitant to die. When they managed to kill it, they dressed it and found a fetus inside its womb. The fetus was still alive. Ten years later, the spirit of an elk that was difficult to kill re-appears for vengeance. The spirit kills all the four men and goes to give birth to a calf where the massacre of a group of elk occurred. Specifically, it delivers where its calf was buried a decade ago. After giving birth, the elk vanishes to the forest with its calf. The entire story is about the multi-faceted experiences faced when trying to break with traditions.
The narrative involves revenge and the impact of breaking with traditions. The suffrage subjected to four friends allegorically reflects the social and economic problems experienced by native tribes in the U.S. The native Indians were hunters before the invasion of their land by white settlers. When white settlers came to the U.S, they compelled the native tribes to change their lifestyles. However, they started feeling the pinch of breaking from their traditions almost immediately. The culture they abandoned re-emerges to haunt them. The Native Indians regret abandoning their culture and traditions to follow other norms that brutalize them.
