A storm is brewing in Toussaint between the ranchers and environmentalists, and it’s up to Du Pré to stop the bloodshed
Two men have been cutting fences at the ranches of Toussaint, Montana, loosing thousands of dollars of cattle to use as target practice for their .22 rifles. Are they thieves? Pranksters? Local cattle inspector Gabriel Du Pré guesses they’re environmentalists agitating for the reintroduction of native wolves to Montana’s high plains. Du Pré knows that the environmentalists are trying to send a message to the ranchers of eastern Montana. He also has a hunch that they are already dead.
When the activists are found shot to death, Du Pré attempts to contain the chaos. The FBI descends, but their agents are as clueless in this territory as the hapless environmentalists. One of Toussaint’s citizens committed this crime, killing to protect the traditional way of ranching life, a loyalty that Du Pré shares. If anyone’s going to arrest his people, it will be the cattle inspector himself.