In 1980, while hunting pronghorns, Llewelyn Moss stumbles across the aftermath of a drug deal gone awry that has left everyone dead, save a sole badly wounded Mexican who pleads with Moss for water. Moss responds that he does not have any and searches the rest of the vehicles, finding a truck full of heroin. He searches for the "last man standing" and finds him dead some distance off under a tree with a satchel containing $2.4 million in cash. He takes the money and returns home. Later, however, feeling remorse for leaving the wounded man and simultaneously desiring to know more of the circumstances surrounding the deal gone wrong and the money, he returns to the scene with a jug of water, only to find that the wounded man had since been shot and killed. When Moss looks back to his truck parked on the ridge overlooking the valley, another truck is there. After being seen, he tries to run, which sparks a tense chase through a desert valley. This is the beginning of a hunt for Moss that stretches for most of the remaining novel. After escaping from his pursuers, Moss sends his wife, Carla Jean, to her grandmother in Odessa, Texas, while he leaves his home with the money.