The epic saga of Jean-Claude Pitre (a.k.a. “Bones”) picks up from the previous novel, Carrier-of-Bones, two years later. Without missing a beat, the action and danger are non-stop as Jean and Louis take steps to move their starving clan family from their Seneca village on the Boeuf and head west to the Illinois country to escape a land largely depleted of deer and elk. 

On their way to the Illinois, the two are captured by a renegade band of Kickapoo Indians. From that moment, a tragedy begins to unfold. Jean blames the infamous Indian chief Pontiac. Burdened with the relocating of his clan family, including his wife and son, he also begins his search to confront the elusive Pontiac.