Emma Leaphorn, wife of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, is a kinsman of Ashie Pinto, who stands accused of Delbert Nez's murder. Emma pushes her husband to check out puzzling leads that may prove Pinto's innocence. (Emma does not appear in the book.)

Born in Keshena, Wisconsin, actress Shelia Tousey was born and raised on both the Menominee and Stockbridge reservations. She began her career as a child, performing Native American dances. Upon graduating from the University of New Mexico, Tousey enrolled in the graduate acting program at New York University. Since then she has appeared on Broadway in Saint Plays: Wholly Jones/The Freak and In the Summer House and off-Broadway in Woyzeck and Efiginia and Other Daughters, for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination.

Tousey worked with writer-director Sam Shepard on Thunderheart, her motion picture debut, and again on the film Silent Tongue. Her other film roles include Backroads, Ravenous, All the Winters That Have Been, and Grand Avenue. Her television credits include the PBS production Living and Working in Space and the CBS movie of the week Medicine River, in which she starred. She narrated the American Masters episode Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians. In addition to her work as an actress, she has co-produced the romantic comedy Christmas in the Clouds.