The two worlds of Austin Bullock collide when Chief Emory Sees the Water dies mysteriously in Lost Man Marsh, part of the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation in the Big Thicket of East Texas. By blood, bone, and history, Austin Bullock is now the Chief of his Nation, responsible for maintaining the welfare of his people. He left the reservation years before to teach history, to coach basketball in the white man's school, and to seek an identify apart from his Native American heritage. Now the song of the Tie Snake, the creature which lives in the dark waters of the swamp, calls Austin Bullock to his mission. Murder, tribal myth and legend, and the contemporary realities of greed and violence from the outside world force Austin Bullock to make choices he has struggled to avoid.