In the Montana backcountry live two brothers who run a saw mill and do a little poaching on the side. Thad is the brains of the operation. His brother Hazen has a talent for tracking and hunting and getting himself into trouble.

Together they have just about made it work, but now there are mounting bills, a leaky roof and winter is closing in. When a menacing figure known as the Scot offers them a risky but potentially lucrative hunting job in Yellowstone National Park, the brothers can't refuse, but before long the precarious nature of their lives and their bond is exposed. From a fresh new voice in American fiction, this is a propulsive, bracing story about the cost of survival set against the unforgiving wilderness of the American northwest.