The first book in a dramatic fictional trilogy set in the old west. Takoda, a young Lakota warrior, is compelled to fight for his life after his father is killed in a hunting accident, facing murderous beaver trappers and brutal treatment at the hands of a ruthless band of buffalo hunters. However, his future is to become defined by the dark influence of Theodore Winthrop, a Minnesotan senator who wants to rid the plains of the native tribes. Takoda's survival depends on a chance encounter with a wagon train, where he meets Carla Kopp, with whom he is destined to unveil the scope of Winthrop's political and military subterfuge, a plan to steal four hundred million dollars in gold, and strategies designed to challenge the Lakota's very existence.