There is no date in this land. Nothing happens that is worth remembering. You either feed or become feed. The mountain provides the warmth, the plants, the feed, the wetness to keep clean and feed. Tools are a simple stick and a rock. What can a young girl do with a stick and a rock? Mother's blood runs hot and someone can capture a piece and have a shinney that helps feed.
Little Bird has a new shinney better than any before. She shows the secret to the Old Ones. Then puts smaller pieces on stems which gets more feed. She watches birds fly and reasons that her stems need feathers to go further.
Mother shakes and the paths to the feed close. Little Bird and a hunter travels where the paths are open and finds a new valley with no eaters. The Old Ones refuse to leave. The new valley has easy feeding and many other items to explore.
Soon the eaters find a path into the Old One's camp. They flee to the new valley but soon the eaters find the new valley and the easy feeding. Can they destroy the eaters before there is no feed left for anyone? Will the crushed different colors of Mother save the them?