His world turned alien and treacherous, Bitterroot Bob seeks isolation at his family's homestead at the northwestern edge of America's arid Great Basin. The nation's duplicity also reactivated childhood nightmares where his contradicting sense perceptions terrify him. He hopes finding words for what happened, why, and how to live in the new turmoil will stop the nightmares. But Appaloosa-riding Judith Clearwater breaks his solitude, spinning tales...