Ann Williams and Noah Swift Hawk escape Arkansas with their friend Roscoe Bacon but only one of Ann's sisters. Barely across the border and still much too close to the clutches of the prejudiced Judge Daniel Hall, they hide with the Xida people. Every attempt to rendezvous with Ann's other sister at Fort Gibson means exposure, and there are definitely soldiers at the fort who would love to see the family get their comeuppance. In Noah's village and the Cherokee lands of Indian Territory, they encounter friends and foes, attempt to abscond with stolen buffalo and to avoid discovery and destruction. Will Ann reunite with her missing sister? Will the family and the rest of Noah's people survive the wrath of Cherokee war woman, Kangee?