Spirits in The Wind

Black Cloud and Talking Wind soon learn that their son Wounded Coyote will do great things among their people. Wounded Coyote learns the ways of a Shaman from his father, but his vision quest and a series of tragic events sends him in a different direction. He marries Painted Flower and they have a son Running Bear who ends up having a Grizzly for a pet. Running Bear is set to follow his father's path as shaman of the Lakota. The tribe fears the white man will invade their lands causing the same types of problems as the Indians of the east. Will Jefferson was born with a crippled leg and has a hard time making friends, because they think he is a freak. He runs into the Smith brothers; Alvin, Hyrum, and Joseph who befriend him. Will's family ends up following the Smith family from Vermont to New York where Joseph has his first vision. Will believes everything that Joseph says he has seen, but his parents do not want him to see the Smith family again. Many of the people where Will lives hear of Indian attacks and start to fear them. Will gets different points of view about the Indians. After Will's father dies, Will meets Joseph again and is baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He follows the church to Ohio, and then on to Missouri where he meets Wounded Coyote who asks for help from white men to come to his village to save his wife who is sick. Will goes back to the village with Wounded Coyote but they are too late to save Painted Flower. Will does save Wounded Coyote's son Running Bear through a priesthood blessing, and gives a Book of Mormon to Wounded Coyote. Wounded Coyote learns to read in English and reads the Book of Mormon. He believes in the book and teaches his people about it. The tribal council and the chief Kicking Bird banish him from the tribe for teaching of the book. Wounded Coyote leaves his son Running Bear to be with his people and Wounded Coyote seeks out to find Will and the church in order to get baptized a member. He learns that the Mormons are no longer in Missouri and goes to Illinois in search of them. When he gets to Nauvoo he sees Will again and becomes a members of the church. Will and Wounded Coyote become good friends in Nauvoo. The tragic events of the death of Joseph and Hyrum takes place in Carthage. Wounded Coyote returns to his people while Will and his family go west with the Saints. As Will travels west with Brigham Young, Indians appear on the nearby hill with war paint on and ready to attack. It is Wounded Coyote who prevents this from happening. Will goes back to Utah and works with the Indians in Utah and Wounded Coyote remains with his people attempting to keep peace in the area. The movement of settlers in the Lakota land after gold is discovered in the Black Hills sparks a war which results in the death of Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn. The final scene of the book takes place at Wounded Knee where Wounded Coyote and his son Running Bear are killed. Black Elk, Running Bear's son who has become a shaman tells Will about the tragic events. Will goes to Wounded Knee and morns his friend and ponders why it has happened along with the horrible events that had happened with the Mormons and the American Indians.