In the 1820s, an eleven-year-old Cherokee boy is becoming "civilized" by attending a missionary school in eastern Tennessee. One day, he witnesses a gang rape of a Cherokee girl by three white ruffians. He shakes his fist at the heavens, wondering where God was when this happened. He wonders whether anyone has ever heard his prayers. He loses his faith. Deeply outraged, he swears an oath of revenge. He leaves school and travels to Arkansas Territory, where he meets his uncle, a chief of the western band of the Cherokees. There, he learns the ways of the warrior.

At first, he is obsessed with his hatred of the white invaders of his homeland. He doesn't want to kill them all-just the ones who "need killing." But once he is on the warrior's path, he begins to discover that life is not as simple as an unending series of vendettas. Along the way, he encounters wise elders-Cherokee, Irish, Presbyterian, Quaker, Pawnee-who, like wise people from the beginning of time, try to teach him. Along the way, he kills many men. Along the way, he finds love but walks away from it. And along the way, he begins to reflect on the teachings of the elders. He begins to realize that he is in search of his "truth." Whatever that may be...

His path will take him across the continent. At the far end of this path lies his "truth." But what truth will he find?