During the weeks immediately preceding to the 1975 Fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War, Malcolm "Moon" Thomas Mathias, manages the Press-Register, a small Colorado newspaper.

Victoria immediately books a flight to Manila to retrieve her grandchild, only to be stopped by a heart attack at Los Angeles International Airport.

After receiving an emergency call from Philippine Airlines, Moon learns his mother is facing immediate heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Some less enthusiastic readers felt the book was bogged down in details, or otherwise not up to Hillerman's style in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police novels.

[2] Publishers Weekly stated, "Hillerman's mastery of setting and his compassionate, patient characterization are fully present in this tale, which is otherwise somewhat formulaic.