A captivating story about a northern New Mexico cattle ranch, the Cross S or Piedra (stone), in the 1950s. The action unfolds through the eyes of a half-breed Indian top hand on the ranch, Frank Dalton, as he teaches an enigmatic young would-be cowboy named R C Roth the ways of cowboying, rodeoing, and life itself. As Dalton educates Roth to the ways of 'the calling', both men become embroiled in complicated love affairs -- Dalton falls in love with the daughter of the top hand on a neighbouring ranch, and Roth with Francesca 'Kika' Jaramillo, daughter of a Hispanic rancher-friend of the Cross S's Boss Stone. In addition, both cowboys are confronted with a puzzle begging to be solved -- at the top of the formidable mesa overlooking the Stone ranch is a single, lonely grave marked with a granite headstone bearing the mysterious inscription 'Abajo Verdad-Arriba Cielo' (below is truth, above is sky).