"Murphy is living a quiet life of semi-retirement with his wife, Kai, and their newly adopted baby in their home outside Fort Smith, Arkansas. Kai, part Navajo, teaches on the reservation in the Indian Nation in the Ozarks. Murphy is called back into service when William Burke, special advisor to President Arthur, shows up in Fort Smith with an assignment. New York Governor Grover Cleveland is running for president and Arthur wants Murphy to head...

An effort to remove a junkyard adjacent to a lucrative Wyoming land development project is thrown into conflict when human remains are discovered at the site, a situation that pits Sheriff Walt Longmire and his companions against increasingly volatile locals.