The Civil War is finally over, and a weakened America is struggling to rebuild. The white man is sweeping across the continent, driving native peoples on the prairies and plains from their lands. But time is about to stand still, the map of history rewritten....

Something is wrong out West. The Buffalo Soldiers sent to subdue the Cheyenne are deserting and joining their former enemy. The Sioux are leaving their reservations in hordes. And armed bands of Apaches have been sighted riding east of the Mississippi!

Lemuel Rowland, formerly Poyeshao, a son of the Seneca, has spent his life learning the white man's ways. A Washington bureaucrat, he must now choose between his successful career and his ancient heritage, for the dreams of his native people are about to come true. An obscure Lakota chief, inspired by visions of a female soothsayer and armed by a foreign spy, is uniting the Indian nations into an awesome fighting force that will thunder eastward and try to reclaim all of America for its peoples. As a loyal employee of the United States government, it is Rowland's job to stop these renegade warriors - but he wants them to win! And what will it mean for America - and her future history- if they do?