In the wake of the hunting incident where Lewis Clarke shot a pregnant elk cow as it struggled to survive, he is overcome with guilt. Shortly after, he meets Peta, a white woman, and they move away from the Blackfoot reservation and marry. He gets a job with the postal service and spends the next decade avoiding his feelings of guilt over his own actions and his abandonment of the reservation. This guilt becomes the key character trait driving him. He attempts to build a life in opposition to the shame he feels. Still, he thinks of himself as on display often, especially the Blackfoot identity that is a rarity in Great Falls, and he imagines the newspaper headlines written about him frequently, conceiving of himself as a noteworthy story or object lesson about what Blackfeet are like. Despite his attempts to erase his actions, he is still left with a nagging sense that karmic justice is coming for him.

When Elk Head Woman begins to haunt him, it’s through leveraging his guilt and shame that she succeeds. His relationship with Shaney is fraught with temptation, but he also sees in her an opportunity to connect with someone who would understand why his actions were such an egregious violation of nature and tribal custom.