On an alien world, a colony of humans has evolved to reproduce with one mother and many fathers. After delaying for years, one young woman finally chooses three fathers for her baby, but her desire for freedom draws her into the orbit of the post-human anthropologists who have come from the stars to study this quaint biological mating ritual.

In a near-future Arizona, a Pueblo man in a precarious marriage works at a store that offers virtual reality "Experiences" for tourists, in which he plays a caricature of a Spirit Guide, based on white stereotypes of Native Americans. His life spirals when a white tourist who pretends to be his friend threatens to take everything from him.