A ripped square of calico cloth is the key to the mystery surrounding Little Bear. Who is he? Raised Blackfoot but why? His birth is a secret even to Bear Chief and Flower Woman who raise him. Blackrobes at St. Peter's Mission, near Ft. Shaw, MT. teach Little Bear to read and write and speak English. By accident he stumbles onto clues as to who is his biological father, a retired Union Army man that had pushed the Blackfoot Nation onto the reservation near Glacier National Park. He graduates from Carlisle Indian Industrial School as a lawyer and works on Government/Tribal Treaties. Through out the many chapters Indian ways are revealed, including Blood Brother bonding, pow wows, pipe ceremonies and Vision Quests.