Arizona, 1940. Deputy U.S. Marshall and Spanish Civil War veteran J.D. Fitzpatrick arrives in Tucson, a shell-shock case. His job should be a low pressure, but the insensitive local BIA agent provokes a gunfight over registering the Papagos men for the draft. Fitzpatrick is sent to the reservation to arrest the ringleader, Jujul, and his band of renegades, but they have disappeared into the desert. Why should they serve in the military of a country that refuses to recognize their citizenship?

Meanwhile, a Japanese military police corps agent is sent to America to stir up discontent among the tribes and encourage the Papago rebellion in order to buy more preparation time for Japan's Pacific campaign.

All these forces, including ghosts from J.D.'s stint in Spain, collide along the Gulf of California, in this unexpected mystery.