Content Warning: This section mentions sexual assault and death by suicide.

One day in the early 2000s, Walt Longmire, the 50-something-year-old sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, receives a call from local rancher Bob Barnes. Bob informs Walt that he and his son, Billy, found a dead body while they were moving some sheep. Walt promises to send someone to the scene shortly. Walt finds his undersheriff, Victoria “Vic” Moretti, directing traffic. Although she is angry at Walt for sitting in his office all day while she has been on her feet, she agrees to go to the crime scene, leaving Walt free to go home.

Three years earlier, Walt and his wife, Martha, built a cabin in the countryside. Martha died soon after, leaving Walt in a sad funk. Much of Walt’s home remains disorganized and unfinished.

Arriving home, Walt relaxes in his recliner, drinking beer and setting the TV to produce a static signal while waiting for a call from his daughter, Cady, who is a lawyer in Philadelphia. His mind wanders to a recently settled case involving Melissa Little Bird, a young Northern Cheyenne woman with fetal alcohol syndrome. Melissa was gang-raped by four young men, who received only minimal punishments.