This is a journey book that spans from Ireland to the Far West in the United States. The Far West is tribal territory west of the the Mississippi. The main characters Eagle Hand, Git and Jack travel by foot and canoe though the eastern United States buying rifles along the way. They live off the land and sleep under the stars. They stay at a Pawnee village as guests of the war chief.They go on a Pawnee buffalo hunt. Jack takes the first steamship up the Missouri to Fort Union a trading fort on the Missouri. Eagle Hand and Git travel with a mule train to the trapper rendezvous in Pierre's Hole. They fight in the battle of Pierre's Hole. Eagle Hand and Git travel through dangerous tribal territory to reach the Mandan village where they will stay for the next book called Evening of the Mandan.