Plot Summary
It is winter on the Wind River Indian Reservation in
The next day, the investigative team learns from Natalie's father that the young woman was dating a new boyfriend, but he doesn't know the man's name or whereabouts. They also learn that Natalie's brother Chip is a drug addict and currently residing with the reservation's local dealers, the Littlefeather brothers, in their double-wide trailer.
Natalie's autopsy returns findings of blunt trauma and sexual violence, and confirms Lambert's assumption that the girl had died from exposure, specifically pulmonary hemorrhage caused by rapid inhalation of sub-zero air during her barefooted flight through the snow. However, the medical examiner is unable to definitively conclude in his report that the victim was murdered, therefore preventing Banner from calling in an additional FBI investigative unit. Banner tells Ben that she will remain to assist and she will not provide an update to her supervisor, as she figures she would be directed to cease being involved.
Banner, Lambert, and Ben visit the Littlefeather property in order to question Chip. They have an armed confrontation with Sam Littlefeather that ends with him dead at Banner's hands, and Chip and another dealer taken into custody. Lambert notices a snowmobile track leading away from the property toward the area where Natalie's body was found. He convinces Banner to hold off interrogating the two young men in order to follow the trail before it snows over. Some distance up the mountain, Lambert discovers a second body, this one male, nude, and heavily ravaged by scavenging wildlife. Chip reveals that Natalie's boyfriend is named Matt and that he works on the security staff at a nearby oil drilling site, where he also lives.
Banner visits Lambert's home and tells him that she has learned that the male body is of Matt Rayburn, who worked as security at the nearby oil drilling site. Lambert tells her about the death of his daughter three years before, whose body was discovered in the snow three years ago, following a party at his house. He and his wife had been out of town.
Accompanied by Sheriff Ben and tribal police officers, as well as local county deputies, Banner approaches the drill site. She meets several of Matt's fellow armed security guards, who claim not to have seen Matt since he stormed off a few days ago following an argument with his girlfriend. As her party is led toward the drill crew's sleeping quarters, which she asked to examine, Lambert has retraced the track up to the second corpse. He follows it over a mountain range, where he finds that it leads directly into the drilling camp, where Banner and the deputies have already arrived. Lambert tries to warn Ben by radio.
At the oil rig site, Banner, Ben, and the deputies meet with the oil rig security. Banner says that Natalie filed a complaint that Matt was missing and she is investigating his disappearance. The oil rig security reveal their knowledge of discovery of Natalie's body and say they had learned this by monitoring law enforcement radio channels. But Natalie's identity was never discussed over the radio. Noticing that the oil rig security are starting to surround Banner, Ben, and the deputies, one of the deputies pulls his weapon. The others immediately follow and all parties are locked in an armed standoff. Banner defuses the situation by claiming federal authority over the others. Everyone walks toward the trailer where Matt had been living.
A flashback shows Natalie going to Matt's trailer, and the two cuddling and discussing plans after making love. His security colleagues interrupt, entering the trailer after a night of hard drinking. Pete, a particularly vulgar crew member, taunts them and provokes Matt to violence, and the team members retaliate by beating him and knocking out Natalie. Pete rapes her. Matt recovers consciousness, attacking Pete and the others. They overwhelm him and beat him to death, but the barefoot Natalie escapes the trailer and runs away.
In present time, Banner tries the door to Matt's trailer, finding it locked. Warned by Lambert, Ben shouts at her to get away, but she is hit by a shotgun blast fired by Pete from inside. A firefight breaks out. Banner is shot in the neck, and Ben and the other officers are killed. As Banner is about to be killed by the remaining security team members, Lambert opens fire from a distance, fatally shooting all except Pete, who flees.
Lambert catches Pete on the mountain and knocks him unconscious. When he recovers, Lambert forces him to confess his actions against Natalie and Matt. He offers him the same chance given Natalie, a barefoot escape toward a distant road. Lambert says that Natalie "was a warrior" and made it six miles before she collapsed and died, but predicts that Pete will not last long enough to reach the highway. The camera shows Pete stumbling through the snow only a few yards before collapsing dead into the snow.
Lambert visits Banner, who is recovering in the hospital, and praises her toughness. He visits Martin Hanson, Natalie's father, finding him sitting in his yard with a gun, having painted his face blue for death and contemplating suicide. Martin tells Lambert that Chip had called from the station, the first time they had spoken in a year. He has decided to go on. Lambert tells Martin that the missing oil crew member had died "with a whimper". He and Martin sit together in the frozen yard, sharing in the grief of their daughters' deaths.
A title card states that the FBI does not keep statistics on missing Native American women, whose numbers remain unknown.
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