This is a book regarding the spirituality and customs of the Dakota women discussed from the viewpoint of a juvenile girl called Waterlily. The reader accompanies Waterlily during her journey from childhood to adulthood, during her happiness and sorrows, until she eventually uncovers true love.
Blue Bird (also her grandmother) ends up among an assembly of Indians after their family is attacked and murdered, forgetting and leaving Blue Bird and her grandmother abandoned. Fortunately, A pair of women are taken in by a moving camp circle, with which they lived with for four years. Blue Bird mates with one of the young men, Star Elk, and gets pregnant with Waterlily. Star Elk is not a good husband to Blue Bird, and soon after Waterlily is born, Star Elk openly throws Blue Bird elsewhere. The people of the camp circle recognize that Star Elk possesses no justification to do this. Shortly after this, Blue Bird's tribe
find her and return her including her grandmother and new daughter back to their camp circle.
Shortly after Blue Bird and Waterlily are back with their camp circle, Blue Bird meets Rainbow, and the two are married. Waterlily's new grandmother, Goku, admires her so much and handles Waterlily quite like one of her grandchildren.
Rainbow brings his family to visit his friend, Palani. There is a Sun Dance ceremony maintained at Palani's camp circle and when Rainbow and his family arrive there, Waterlily and her cousin, Prairie Flower, go to participate in the celebrations. While at the celebration, Waterlily sees a young boy who is part of a celebration where he dances and begs. The young boy has encouraged the Great Spirit that if he spares his father's life, he will devote one hundred pieces of meat at the carnival. The boy's sacrifice so affects waterlily that she attempts to bring him some water, which is banned. When he refuses the water, Waterlily goes away. Waterlily and her family leave the carnival externally never noticing that young boy again.
Soon after returning to their camp circle, Waterlily's grandmother, Goku, dies. Waterlily's uncle has two gorgeous and strong American horses he is saving to give as gifts in Goku's name, but the horses are stolen. A boy asks Waterlily if she has never attended or yet seen to be his wife. The boy's family is advancing to give Waterlily's family two horses in replacement for her marrying the boy. Waterlily agrees to the marriage because she adores her grandmother very much and needs her uncle to be ready for the horses to deliver as gifts.
When Waterlily marries the youthful man, Sacred Horse, she moves away from her people to remain with his family. She is exceptionally homesick for her family and uncertain of how to act around her new husband, but before she can become satisfied with him, the camp circle is infected with smallpox, and Waterlily's late husband dies. By the interval of Waterlily's reactions to her own family, she discovers she is pregnant with Sacred Horse's child. One of Sacred Horse's siblings says Waterlily will advance one of Sacred Horse's cousins to Waterlily's home circle to be her husband and to further raise Sacred Horse's child. Waterlily is very shocked when the cousin of Sacred Horse turns out to be the boy from the Sun Dance festival, Lowanla.
