Grann takes the reader back to the time when the Osage community lived in Arkansas. President Thomas Jefferson had established a friendship with the people, but the government later forced them to give up their ancestral land. They had no option but to comply, for retaliation would make them enemies of America. Subsequently, they moved to the reservation in Kansas. Ne-kah-e-se-y, Mollie’s father, was a warrior who used to defend the tribe from attacks. Lizzie helped support her family through harvesting corn and carrying wood from long distances. The tribe valued their traditional ways, yet failing to embrace the changes brought on by white men. Settlers later came to occupy the land at the reservation, forcing the Osage community out through purchases and ruthless massacres.

The tribe bought another reservation, a place they were sure the white people would not desire. The government, on the other hand, wanted to forcibly assimilate the tribe, by killing the buffalos to end the hunting spree, and forcing them to venture into agricultural activities. The compensation money for their ancestral land also become a way of forcing them to change, with the government giving them food and clothes instead of checks. However, the people retaliated after some time, and where Wah-Ti-An-Kah, the chief, visited the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the negotiations.

Mollie’s parents got married, and the children were given Osage names. However, the names later changed to Mollie, Anna, Minnie, and Rita — while the parents became Jimmy and Lizzie. The government forced the people to take their children to school, which led to Mollie having to attend St. Louis School. Forced schooling changed the way the scholars viewed their traditions, with many embracing the white men’s method of dress and being ashamed of their traditionalist parents who could not understand English and still lived by the old ways. The government also began to introduce allotments by dividing the lands. However, the Osage tribe managed to slow the allotment process, and the land was later divided among the tribe members. The oil deposits beneath the territory were also reserved to the tribe, and the ownership rights could only be inherited. More deposits were discovered, and the people were happy, hugging each other and tossing their hats in celebration.