Evan Begay, Navajo, is a modern day amateur archeologist. While on a trip to the Jemez Mountains, he stumbles on a cave filled with Inca gold artifacts and pictographs that tell the story of a great Anasazi migration. But he is being watched. The day before he intends to break camp and notify the authorities of his find, he is shot and falls into a deep fissure in the mesa where he remains until he dies. A search by authorities finds nothing but an empty camp.
Evan's wife, Anna, calls on Hays McKay, an Ohio security firm investigator and old friend, to look for her husband. McKay travels to New Mexico with his fiancé, Deirdre, and together with a guide and his sister, they search for Evan Begay. In doing so, they become the targets of four men who are removing the gold artifacts and melting them down to sell. The McKay party finds Evan Begay and the cave, but in doing so, they set up a deadly confrontation between themselves and the thieves who have plundered the cave.