Shiprock, New Mexico

Shiprock is a tiny town in New Mexico, very near the four corners area, where Bernie, Chee, and Leaphorn all live, and also where Palmer grew up before he moved to Phoenix. One of the biggest attractions in Shiprock is high school basketball, as a highly anticipated game is the first scene of the novel. As the narration notes: "Tonight, they had packed the gym to the fire marshal's advised capacity and probably beyond" (4). Shiprock holds little value even within the Southwest, as most of the characters quickly leave Shiprock in order to pursue the novel's main plot, near the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Tuba City, Arizona

Most of the novel takes place in Tuba City, Arizona, a small town very close to the Grand Canyon. The city is hosting the tense negotiations between the real estate developers and the nature conservationists, mediated by Aza Palmer...