Makawee's father, Long Horse, demands a steep price for his daughter, and Graham must compete with a Crow warrior to win her hand. Tragedy strikes when she suffers an agonizing loss that scars her physically and emotionally.

Long Horse sends him on a mission into the newly created Yellowstone National Park, where squatters and poachers exploit the park's resources.

Graham and a Crow friend enlist as scouts for the army. When George Armstrong Custer recruits them for the Seventh Cavalry, the friends are soon riding into the Little Bighorn Valley. Should Graham warn the brash cavalry officer his entire command will be killed? Does he betray his Crow friends by warning the Sioux of the pending attack?

Or does he allow both sides to engage in the looming battle at a place destined to be fatal ground?