As John Donne said, and Hemingway repeated, "No man is an island." Sometimes it takes a crisis for people to accept that truth. For the Keller family, the lesson evolves from a deer hunt which forces them to confront secrets that have separated them from one another and the truth for years. Why did Jake Keller rebel and decide he needed one last deer hunt? Why had Andy, his son, suddenly quit hunting? Who was responsible for the death of Andy's younger brother, Paul, and why had Paul broken the old man's rule against drinking on a hunt? Why had Janet, Andy's wife, laughed hysterically at Paul's funeral? What was the source of the enmity between Jake and his boyhood friend, Clyde Grumbine? Why did everyone in the valley fear the black buck and why did it seem to haunt the Keller family?