The Plague of Doves Summary

In a prologue (titled “SOLO”), an unnamed man commits a murder as a baby cries. In the background, a record player spins around and around, playing an “unearthly violin solo.”

Evelina Milk reflects on the 1896 “plague of doves” that occurred in her grandfather Mooshum’s childhood. Though the infestation was terrifying, taking over most of Pluto, North Dakota and the adjacent Chippewa Reservation, Mooshum remembers it fondly—after all, this was when he met his wife, Junesse Malaterre, in what Evelina imagines as a “deathless romantic encounter.” Evelina, attending Catholic middle school in the 1960s, wonders if her crush on classmate Corwin Peace will follow a similar trajectory.

For now, unfortunately, Evelina’s life is calm: she catches reptiles with her scientifically minded brother Joseph, talks to Mooshum about the great Indian political leader Louis Riel, and listens to her great-uncle Shamengwa play his prized violin. There are occasional tensions, as when Mooshum (now widowed) flirts with Evelina’s paternal aunt Neve Harp. But mostly, the passion that Evelina longs for exists only in her fantasies.

One day, an unusual-looking new teacher, Sister Mary Anita Buckendorf, arrives at Evelina’s school. When Sister Mary Anita catches Evelina making fun of her looks, she holds Evelina after class and asks Evelina to apologize. From that moment on, Evelina forgets her crush on Corwin and decides that she is in love with Mary Anita instead.

Mooshum learns that Evelina’s beloved new teacher is a Buckendorf, and wonders if Mary Anita became a nun because she has seen firsthand that “there is no justice.” Mooshum then tells his grandchildren that in 1911, a white family in Pluto was slaughtered; the only survivor was a young baby girl. A group of Indian men—Cuthbert Peace, 13-year-old Holy Track, Holy Track’s uncle Asiginak, and Mooshum himself—were wrongfully suspected of the murder, and captured by a group of white vigilantes. Two white farmers named Emil Buckendorf and Eugene Wildstrand led the mob, deciding to lynch their prisoners. Mooshum alone survived, and Shamengwa later tells Evelina that Mooshum lived only because his wife Junesse was related to Eugene Wildstrand.

Evelina’s story pauses, and a new narrator, town judge Antone Bazil Coutts, takes over. Judge Coutts is in love with Geraldine Milk (Evelina’s aunt), and he courts her patiently. Being patient makes Coutts think of his grandfather Joseph Coutts, who was one of the first surveyors of the town-site that would eventually become Pluto.

The initial surveying is difficult and dangerous. Reginald Bull is the lead speculator; in addition to Joseph, he gathers Emil Buckendorf, a cook named English Bill, and Henri and Lafayette Peace to be the trip’s guides. But almost immediately, the frigid weather delays the men’s progress, and their food runs out. For a time, Joseph Coutts feels that the only thing keeping him alive is Lafayette’s fiddle playing. Bull starves to death, and Buckendorf grows increasingly sullen and resentful. Eventually, however, the Peace brothers are able to trap various animals, and the rest of the group survives. Joseph Coutts gets a law degree and returns to the site a few years later as Pluto’s first lawyer.

Coutts reflects on the most scandalous case he ever tried. John Wildstrand, president of Pluto’s local bank, was married to Neve Harp but having an affair with Maggie Peace. When Maggie got pregnant, her little brother Billy Peace showed up on John’s doorstep with a gun, demanding money for Maggie’s baby. Together, the two men came up with a plan: Billy would pretend to kidnap Neve and demand $50,000 from the bank as ransom.

The plan went successfully, and Billy abducted Neve for three days. When Neve returned, she often described her captor as god-like, despite Billy’s physical slightness. To avoid being found out, Billy joined the army—and when Maggie learned why Billy was leaving, she refused to speak to John again, even when John left Neve. One day, shortly after Maggie gave birth to her son (Corwin Peace), John stopped by his old house and had sex with Neve. Afterwards, John realized that Billy and Neve slept together during the abduction. Tearfully, John confessed to everything, telling Neve that he has always loved her. Neve called the police.

The narrative shifts again, and now Marn Wolde tells her story. When Marn was 16, she saw Billy Peace—then a traveling preacher—give a sermon. Soon after, Marn and Billy married and had children. Billy accrued a few followers of his particular brand of Christianity, and he decided to settle with his disciples (“the kindred”) on Marn’s family’s farm. In short order, Billy took over the farm, terrifying Marn’s parents and upsetting her erratic, angry old uncle Warren Wolde. Under his breath, Warren predicted that Marn would one day commit murder.

As Billy gained more followers, his teachings grew more extreme. He ate ravenously and had endless sex with Marn and his other female disciples. One day, lightning struck Billy, but he miraculously survived. Realizing the only way to be free of Billy’s terrifying beliefs was to kill him, Marn decided to poison her husband. Billy died, and Marn ran off with her children, hiding out in the 4-Bs—the Pluto diner where Evelina works as a waitress.

Judge Coutts takes over, telling the story of when Corwin Peace stole Shamengwa’s fiddle. Instead of jailing Corwin, Coutts uses tribal precedent to make Corwin Shamengwa’s apprentice. Soon, Corwin is almost as skilled a musician as Shamengwa himself—and when Shamengwa dies a few months later, Corwin smashes the fiddle in tribute and pain.

Judge Coutts recounts the instrument’s history. Originally, the fiddle was shared by Henri and Lafayette Peace—but when the brothers fought about who would get to keep it, Henri ended up accidentally killing Lafayette. Henri then set the fiddle afloat on a canoe, in the hopes it would find its way to Lafayette in the afterlife. Instead, young Shamengwa found the fiddle on an unmanned boat. Coutts thus believes the fiddle was destined to end up with a member of the Peace family.

Evelina takes over the narrative as she goes off to college. Once there, Evelina misses her family, and she feels isolated both from the white students and the other Indian students. Evelina and Corwin do acid together over winter break, and Evelina has a bad trip, hallucinating reptiles. Shortly after, she decides to get a job in a mental hospital. While there, Evelina falls in a love with a female patient named Nonette—but when Nonette leaves, Evelina’s mental condition worsens. Soon, Evelina is a patient in the hospital instead of a staff member, sharing meals with her fellow patient Warren Wolde.

A few months into Evelina’s stay at the hospital, Corwin comes to visit, and he plays violin with such beauty that Evelina feels strong enough to check herself out of inpatient care. Warren Wolde is also impacted by the music—and that night, he dies.

Life continues on in Pluto: Mooshum winds up in the hospital after a Halloween prank goes awry, Evelina’s father gets in a car wreck with his valuable stamp collection, and Judge Coutts and Geraldine get married. From Mary Anita, Evelina learns that Mooshum was the one who (accidentally) cast suspicion on himself and his friends for the murders back in 1911. Together, she and Mooshum go to the tree where Holy Track was hanged and throw his boots in the branches.

The narration shifts to Judge Coutts, who reflects on a long affair he had in his youth with a local doctor he calls C. Coutts always believed that C. refused to be with him because he was too young, until Geraldine tells Coutts that C. is widely known to be prejudiced against Indians (and Coutts is mixed-race).

C.—whose real name is Cordelia Lochren—takes control of the narrative. By now, Cordelia is an old woman. Together with Neve Harp, she spends most of her time trying to write a history of Pluto. Cordelia reveals that she is the sole survivor of the 1911 murders. For much of her childhood, she finds folded bills in odd places, making her think that her family’s killer is still alive.

One day, Cordelia treats Warren Wolde. When he dies shortly later, he leaves Cordelia bundles of folded money, revealing himself as the killer. Cordelia decides to disband the Pluto historical society and worries about whether, as she tells her history of Pluto, she is accurately reflecting the “truth.”