The perspectives of a Blackfoot woman of the Blood tribe and of a young Irish/English woman who comes west with her family reveal a time of great change, disruption and loss. It was a time also of resilience, renewal and determination. The novel gives a picture of a land and people irrevocably changed and an insight into that world from a feminine perspective. One of the main figures in Blackfoot legends is Napi, or Old Man. Napi is revered, and is the one that many people pray to, and he is also a trickster of sorts. In some of the legends, he is downright dangerous. He is supposed to be the son of the Sun and the Moon, and in some stories, is also one of the people who brought the Sun Dance to the people.