A college athlete commits to a year working in a reservation clinic, and discovers his female boss wants more from him than washing bedpans.
Tim Hyatt is a college athlete and Big Man on Campus, but his plans are very serious: a career as a medical doctor, and a life with his fiancee, Natalie. He takes a year from college to gain work experience on an Indian reservation in New Mexico. Once on the job, he learns that his new boss, the older but beautiful Elaine Yellow Star, hires a young man every year and expects more from him than cleaning bedpans.
Star soon seduces Tim and uses him for her own gratification, while ignoring the lust she's sparked in him. Tim, totally intoxicated, is unable to resist. Her strong will and long experience are more than enough to overwhelm his attempts at rebellion. Neither Tim nor Star count on the rocky but relentlessly growing attraction between them.
Into this mix come the spirits of the tribal ancestors, who subtly meddle in mortal affairs to protect the integrity and future of the tribe.
The Ancestors of Star plays out against the gritty reality of a modern Native American reservation, where poverty, domestic violence, gangs, and neglect are everyday facts of life.