An elderly Blackfeet warrior tells the story of his youth, when his tribe owned and lived free on the great plains at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. During those days of freedom and plenty, they hunted the vast herds of buffalo, worshipped their ancient gods, and sought glory in war parties against their traditional tribal enemies. In order to achieve his adulthood in the tribe, Little Otter must face the dangerous vision quest to find his sacred helper and then risk death as a member of a daring war party. Most of all, though, Little Otter wants to become a Sun priest.

The year is 1863 and the prairies are swarming with war parties from enemy tribes. The two boys must travel far and fight hard to keep their scalps and count coups

Black Otter, the son of Lone Bull, a Pikuni, Blackfoot Indian cast out from his tribe for breaking the hunting rules and forced to wander the wilderness in search of redemption, retells his remarkable story to James Willard Schultz and uncovers the harsh life that faced him and his family during their time in the wilderness.

"TOWARD the close of a warm spring day on April, 1867, luminous spots appeared both on the north and on the south of the setting sun. I noticed them as I returned to our lodge, after watering Is-spai-u and picketing him upon a patch of new sprouting buffalo grass close in front of camp.

Beautiful, tender, haunting, and full of excitement, this is the memoir of famed author, explorer, Glacier Park guide, trader, and historian of the Blackfoot Indians, James Willard Schultz. With the Blackfoot woman, whom he deeply loved, from 1880 to 1903, Schultz lived the life of a Blackfoot Indian with Nat-ah-ki and her people. During this time, he began writing for magazines, at times running a trading post, and working as a guide in the West.

Schultz weaves together the key events in Sacajawea’s story, from her traumatic childhood and adolescence, being captured and taken away from her home by a raiding party of Minnetaree to her unhappy marriage to the interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau, through to her life assisting in Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

Fanny Kelly (1845-1904) was a North American pioneer captured by the Sioux and held captive for five months. Her ill-fated party was attacked by chief Ottawa on the Oregon Trail. She escaped when Sihasapa people took her to Fort Sully.

The Quest of the Fish-Dog Skin is a story of the adventures of two Indian boys or, rather, of an Indian boy and a white boy, Indian. These two set forth from the lodges of the Blackfeet, in company with an older Indian who acts as their guide, philosopher, and friend, on a far quest to the salt water to find the medicine-animal that is called "fish-dog" because it lives only in the water, swimming like a fish, yet has the face of a dog and barks like a dog.

Schultz States: "Camping one time with Black Elk, he told me this tale of the Dreadful River Cave. I never attempted to enter the cave, but how many, many times I have paused at the foot of its falls, watching...." Adopted Blackfeet tribe member James Willard Schultz relates the surprising story as told to him by Chief Black Elk. Schultz was one of the last of the old frontiersmen and Indian fighters... He joined a tribe of Blackfeet Indians and for years roamed with them over the buffalo-covered plains.

As a young child, Herman Lehmann was captured by a band of plundering Apache Indians and remained with them for nine years. This is his dramatic and unique story. His memoir, fast-paced and compelling, tells of his arduous initial years with the Apache as he underwent a sometimes torturous initiation into Indian life. Peppered with various escape attempts, Lehmann's recollections are fresh and exciting in spite of the years past.