When two bodies are found in the forest near the Yellowhead Highway in northern British Columbia, Sergeant Wesson and other members of the local detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin searching for a serial murderer. Suspects include a woodsman who makes wildlife sculptures using a chainsaw, an antisocial doctor, a strange woman engaged in occult practices, and a group of Native youth addicted to gasoline sniffing.

As more dismembered bodies turn up, John Smyth, editor of Grace magazine in Winnipeg, visits the area and starts putting pieces of the puzzle together.