For Robbing the Dead is a story of compassion - compassion toward those who may seem the least deserving of Christian love. It follows the story of Henry Heath, a law officer in 1862 Salt Lake City. Heath finds himself responsible for the well-being of a prisoner whom he despises - an impoverished French immigrant named Jean Baptiste who is convicted of robbing the graves of the recently deceased. Baptiste is exiled to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. With no one willing to look after this man, Henry Heath becomes Baptiste's sole defense against the hostile isolation of Antelope Island and the contempt of an entire community. Through his somewhat reluctant service, Heath's heart softens and his own sorrows find relief.

A troubled psychiatrist goes in search of five schizophrenics who have escaped from a local mental institution. Infiltrating their makeshift mountain outpost, the doctor comes face to face with his own fears, limitations, and forsaken hopes as he becomes acquainted with the patients and their humorously poignant struggles.