Back cover synopsis
Richard Young, a psychologist with a troubled past, is now a psychotherapist in vibrant Taos, New Mexico. He is unsettled by a mysterious client, Christopher Carson, whose life-story bears an uncanny resemblance to the notable scout and pioneer of the old West, Kit Carson. Is this a case of a serious mental disorder or something more sinister, even mystical?
Richard's wife Sharon is a talented artist with a gallery in town. Typically supportive, she begins to question their relationship as she sees her husband's mental health unravelling. Her own quiet confidence is challenged when she discovers the new student in her art class is married to Richard's suspicious client, with whom he's becoming increasingly obsessed. Into this web of tension steps a vital Native American woman who was involved in the scandal that had cost Richard his university job. What is her connection to the enigmatic Christopher, whose untruthfulness and continuous derailment of his therapy sessions are so perplexing?
An unsolved murder fuels suspicion as Richard must confront the devastating history of the American Indian nations resisting the relentless western expansion. Sharon's patience is tested. Can she remain steadfast and hold together all these conflicting relationships, entangled as they are with feelings of guilt, regret, and cultural identity? Behind the drama and the sacred landscapes of the American Southwest, flickers the haunting essence of Kit Carson's first wife, a young Arapaho woman, Singing Grass.