Although this book stands alone as a story, Ross Chesnut is the main character in the VISION OF THE EAGLE series. He has recovered from the tragic end in book-3, THE VISION IS FULFILLED, and now leaves his retreat in the Cascade Mountains of the Oregon Territory in the early spring of 1851 to find the band of Yanktonai Indians who raised him. His journey is filled with danger from the deceit of white men and the vengeance of Indians. And when he finds the tribe he is seeking he is welcomed with both favor and hatred for the message he is carrying is one of doom and forces their traditions into great peril.