Archilde León has returned to his father's property on the Flathead Indian Reservation in the state of Montana, 1936. He has been educated in the city at a boarding school for Native Americans, meaning that he has adopted many white perspectives, and when he returns, he finds that he has trouble even communicating with his parents.
His father is a Spaniard, and his mother is a Flathead native, and the two agree on one thing emphatically: Archilde's white culture and religious views are wrong and intolerable. Many of Archilde's friends are also returning home around this time, and they begin to fall prey to the many pitfalls of reservation life. With friends involved in detestable behavior and with parents who despise who he has become, Archilde becomes increasingly lonely and darkened.
After only a brief visit, Archilde decides to leave the reservation. After all, he doesn't belong there anymore, as his parents and friends have made perfectly clear. But before he can go, someone frames him for two murders—one of which was committed by his own mother. The novel ends with the image from its title: Archilde being wrongly sought by the police, surrounding his house and demanding he turn himself in under threat of violent force.
