On a scorching-hot day in the desert, on the interstate highway between Utah and Arizona, a crowd gathers to witness the ribbon-cutting for a bridge connecting the two states. The bridge has been "bedecked with bunting, streamers and Day-Glo banners" (1). State police wait on either side of the bridge, holding back lines of cars on both sides. A local politician gives a speech over a failing sound system. Among the spectators are a group of Native Americans from various tribes, including "Ute, Paiute, Hopi, and Navajo" (3), standing on the hillside above the highway.

The bridge spans "a gorge seven hundred feet deep" (2) over Glen Canyon and the Colorado River, which flows through the canyon. The Colorado's been "domesticated" (2) by the newly-built Glen Canyon Dam. The only animal in sight is a lone vulture, circling "the immensity of the sky" (4). Around the bridge spans an immense desert where temperatures "at ground level must be close to 150 degrees Fahrenheit" (4).

As the speeches end and the governors of Utah and Arizona step forward, each brandishing golden scissors, a "workman" (4) pushes through the crowd to make an adjustment to the barrier ribbon.