Tom Kreuger, the main character, is a biologist working for the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency managing desert rangelands in thirteen states west of the Mississippi River. Detective work is certainly not a part of his job, a source of irritation and conflict for his employers and law enforcement officials. His co-workers and friends variously aid or deride this activity. Tom is a transplant from the Midwest, firmly embedded in small-town western culture. Like many of the older inhabitants, he is rudely opinionated, defiantly independent, and reluctantly coping with social and technological change.