The already small Posadas County Police Department is about to take a big hit. Under-sheriff Bill Gastner knows that four members of their force are about to quit. Then the plane carrying Sheriff Martin Holman and a companion crashes in a nearby prairie, killing both men on board. Questions arise concerning the crash, most significantly: Why were the sheriff and his brother-in-law, the pilot, flying at night - in bad weather, no less - when the sheriff himself hated to fly?. "There are several indications that the sheriff might have been checking out a lead on a case, the most important of which is the bullet found embedded in the chest of the pilot, a bullet that seems to have been shot from the ground. One witness to the troubled plane's demise and a roll of undeveloped film used in the plane before it went down are the few clues that might allow Bill to solve the case.