In 1870, White Man's Dog and his friend Fast Horse carry out a raid at night against the Crow Indians. White Man's Dog doesn't acquit himself very well. He appears weak and is useless in battle. He visits the Blackfeet's Medicine Man, Yellow Kidney, to see if he can help. Yellow Kidney gives him a mission to lead; he and a group of young Blackfeet will steal a herd of horses. He gives White Man's Dog a series of warrior songs which are intended to give him bravery and courage. White Man's Dog sings the songs and gradually feels less wary of his task. The group manage to take the horses but as they are leading they away from the village they are spotted by a scout whom they know will call for reinforcements. White Man's Dog kills the scout and in haste, Fast Horse calls out to his men, which is a huge mistake because it wakes up everyone in the village. The Crow respond to the call and to the murder.
Yellow Kidney hides beneath a young girl's sleeping bag in a lodge. He finds this arousing and rapes the girl before he realizes that she is lying alone because she has smallpox, and is dying. He tries to escape but is seen by the Crow and is shot. The Crow tie him up and cut off his fingers, before tying him to one of the horses that the young warriors were trying to steal and sending the horse out to face the incoming blizzard, dragging Yellow Kidney behind.
Although the raid seems unsuccessful, it does bring new respect and accolades to White Man's Dog. He feels both pride, and sorrow for what happened to Yellow Kidney. When Yellow Kidney does eventually make it back to the Blackfeet village he tells everyone about Fast Horse's mistake in shouting out during the raid. Fast Horse is shamed and leaves the village. As a result of his courage during the raid, White Man's Dog is given a new name, Fools Crow. This comes about because he pretended to be dead whilst at the Crow village, and then taken Bull Shield and shot him three times when his guard was down, thinking the young warrior no longer living. He had fooled the Crow chief, hence his new name.
Fools Crow gets his first spirit animal at Sun Dance, when he frees a wolverine from a trap. He also begins a sexual relationship with a woman named Red Paint, who becomes pregnant. They name their child after the butterfly that Red Paint saw flit by when she realized she was pregnant.
Fools Crow is led by a raven that comes to him in a dream and he kills a mountain man who has been hunting and killing animals for enjoyment, and not for food or clothing. Fools Crow kills him but is badly injured in the fight. He begins to learn the ways of the Medicine Man, which is fortunate because Yellow Kidney has become depressed and feels that he cannot live properly in society with his mutilated hand. He leaves the tribe but subsequently returns, determined to adapt to life without the use of his fingers. He is shot and killed as he is returning home; his body is found later by Fast Horse, who takes him back to the village, but who does not stay, and spends the rest of his life living alone.
When Fools Crow visits the mystical Feather Woman she shows him three things that are going to happen to the Blackfeet. They will suffer many deaths from the smallpox that has already ravaged the Crow village. They will be colonized by white men. The land will dry up and become unproductive. The Feather Woman makes Fools Crow promise to pass on the stories and the wisdom of the ancestors that will be taken from them.
