Ikwa is a young Indian girl living in the Southeastern United States before colonization. One day, as she carries an offering up the temple mound to the priest of the sun god, she spies 2 crows and a hawk flying toward the Alligator village—a sign that a strange visitor will soon come. Whether the stranger would bring joy or sorrow to Ikwa, her brother, Situ, and the rest of the family, the gods did not yet choose to say.