Jim and Brad make their annual hunting trip to the desert, but this year everything is different: Their third partner, Paul, has died in an accident and they've taken his nephew, Ray, along in his place. When they arrive, though, there's not a single animal to be found, only a grizzled old-timer who joins them. When they meet two female campers, they all begin to behave aggressively, unable to resist their animal urges. The next morning the women have disappeared, but the strange moods and behaviors persist and change in ominous ways. Something has them in its grip and it has total control over them...
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
It's Christmas Eve 1944 in the small town of Bedford Falls, New York. A despondent and suicidal Mary Bailey Hatch is praying for guidance on what to do about an incident no fault of her own which threatens her name and the community standing of her longtime family business, the Bailey Building and Loan, which she took over after the passing of her father. What Mary does not know is that most in town, including her husband George Hatch and their children, are also praying for her. All the prayers are heard by Joseph, God's gatekeeper of prayers. As there are no other angels available on such a busy day, Joseph assigns Clara Oddbody, angel second class (i.e. she has yet to receive her wings), to Mary's case, which he reluctantly does as Clara has never been assigned a case on her own in the two hundred years she's been in heaven for good reason.
The alleged suicide of a gubernatorial candidate triggers a series of mysterious deaths leading to the governor's mansion, and "Wild" Bill McKenzie, a friend of Perry Mason, is on the case.
