Life in the sleepy agricultural town of Malheur has no reason to be anything except normal - but it isn't. Police Chief Makoto Contreras is tasked with his first murder. He realizes that these brutal slayings aren't as random as they first appeared. The town of Malheur seems to be idyllic, situated in the center of a quiet agricultural river basin of eastern Oregon. But one day's work disabuses him of that notion. The job of police chief is one that he's long sought. He's found a place where his mixed heritage won't make him stand out, but instead will be an asset in this ethnically diverse community. But he hadn't imagined the bizarre split that exists between reality and the town's normal facade. And things are about to become even stranger. The spirit of the murdered girl is bent on revenge, and she's brought to bear the power of her Shinto gods to bring the perpetrator of her murder to justice.