The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven story

• Victor, who recently lost his job at the BIA, learns his father passed away from a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona.
• Victor hadn't seen his father in years and is now experiencing "genetic pain" akin to a broken bone.
• He has no money to travel to Phoenix due to poverty on the reservation.
• The Tribal Council could only offer $100 for the return of tribal member's bodies, which isn't enough for a plane ticket.
• Victor doesn't own a car and wants to drive his father's pickup back home.
• Victor feels alone with no one to borrow money from.
• Victor sees Thomas Builds-the-Fire at the Trading Post, a storyteller who nobody listens to.
• Thomas tells Victor a story from when they were seven, about Victor's father's weak heart and fear.
• Victor recalls Thomas knew his father was going to leave before anyone else.
• Thomas offers to lend Victor the money he needs under the condition that Victor takes him along.
• Victor hesitates due to their estrangement.
• Victor remembers sharing a bicycle with Thomas as children.
• Victor recalls a memory when Thomas was ten, sitting on a bicycle on the Fourth of July and urging Victor to hurry to see fireworks.
• Thomas tells a story about two Indian boys who stole a car, drove to the city, parked in front of the police station, and hitchhiked back to the reservation and were lauded as brave warriors.

Reconciliation and Journey

• Thomas reminds Victor that they have a long way to go with outdoor lighting.
• Victor retorts that he only needs "the stars" and that Thomas thinks too much.
• Victor returns home and counts his $100, realizing he needs more and that he needs Thomas.
• Thomas is already on his porch when he arrives.
• Thomas claims to have saved enough money for them to get to Phoenix so long as “you have to get us back".
• Victor mentions he has $100 and his father's savings account to claim.
• Thomas asks Victor if he recalls being a world-class athlete, like the woman on the plane, but he is embarrassed.
• The woman on the plane reveals she was the first alternate on the 1980 Olympic team.
• Thomas tries to touch his knee with his head and fails, prompting laughter from Victor and the gymnast.
• Cathy, the gymnast, complains the government screwed the 1980 Olympic team by boycotting.
• Thomas says they have a lot in common with Indians.
• After the plane landed, Cathy waved goodbye, prompting Thomas to call her nice.
• Victor replies it is too back that they can't always be that way.
• Thomas tells Victor he says he thinks too much now, and Victor says, "Maybe I caught it from you."
• Victor apologizes to Thomas for beating him up when they were fifteen, blaming it on being drunk.

Reflections and Shared Experiences

• Arriving at his father's trailer, Victor acknowledges it "ain't going to be nice" and tells Thomas that he does not have to go in.
• Victor acknowledges he will need help.
• The smell inside the trailer is overwhelming from his father's body lying there for a week in hundred-degree temperatures.
• The coroner needs dental records to identify the body.
• Victor recalls a childhood memory when he stepped into an underground wasp nest, and Thomas pulled him free.
• Thomas then yelled "Run" and he then pulled Victor's foot from the hole.
• Victor and Thomas ran until they were lost in the cold and dark, and Victor counted seven stings.
• Victor considers the number "seven" his lucky number.
• They find little of value in the trailer beyond a photo album and a stereo, remarking on the lingering smell.
• Thomas tells Victor take care of each other because "Take care of each other is what my dreams were saying."
• Victor remembers his father and offers a small smile.
• Thomas then says he had a dream where he was meant to see his father at Spokane Falls, who bought him dinner and took him home.
• Victor recalls that he does not think his father ever told him finding Thomas in Spokane.
• Victor remarks, the only reason his father would help him is because he was told to look after him as "part of the deal".
• Victor then asks if Thomas is with him to help him because of his father.
• After this question, they claim his father's $300 from an account.
• Thomas tells a story of when he jumped off the tribal school and flew, but broke his arm,
• They broke his wing," Victor chanted, and the other Indian boys joined in, made it a tribal song" and now wishes he could fly.
• The ashes now fit in a wooden and cardboard box.

Homeward Bound

• As they were driving home, Nevada looks empty and lifeless.
• Thomas and Victor see their first animal, but run it over and kill it.
• Thomas thinks the jackrabbit committed suicide.
• Victor then notes that there were no smashed bugs on the windshield on the way, and Thomas killed one in ten second.
• Thomas tells Victor that it's okay, and to maybe let him drive.
• Thomas tells a story about story that contains "We are all given one thing by which our lives are measured, one determination. Mine are the stories which can change or not change the world. It doesn't matter which as long as I continue to tell the stories. My father, he died on Okinawa in World War II, died fighting for this country, which had tried to kill him for years. My mother, she died giving birth to me, died while I was still inside her. She pushed me out into the world with her last breath. I have no brothers or sisters. I have only my stories which came to me before I even had the words to speak. I learned a thousand stories before I took my first thousand steps. They are all I have. It's all I can do."
• The tribe was waking up, ready for work, eating breakfast, reading the newspaper, just like everybody else does and that they made it.
• Thomas tells Victor that he's tired of everything.
• Victor, in return, needs to thank Thomas for everything, but can't promise to pay him back.
• Victor is a crazy storyteller and he couldn't’ really be friends because of tribal ties, and the sense of community" which "was a bottle and broken dreams".
• Thomas recalls he wants half of the ashes, to travel to Spokane Falls to toss the ashes. And Victor's last will be like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over him, and find his way home.
• Thomas said "Nothing stops, cousin, Nothing stops."
• Thomas asks Victor for once in his life to actually listen to one of his stories.