A poignant story as told by Sound of Running Feet, the daughter of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce people. In her clear, unflinching voice, she tells of the long, tearful, bloody trail that her people were forced to follow from their beloved home in Wallowa Valley, Oregon, to their final confrontation with the American soldiers at the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana. There, in now famous words, '. . . From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever,' ''

Chief Joseph surrenders on behalf of his once proud warriors who are cold, surrounded, and outnumbered. As stated in the foreword written by O'Dell's wife, who finished the book after his death, many of the people, events, and even words used in the story are based on historical record. Other characters and events are fictionalized or composites. Most notable among them is Swan Necklace, who is initially a pacifist but who becomes enraged as he witnesses the oppression and injustice his people suffer at the hands of the soldiers.