Since the signing of the Laramie Treaty six years earlier, the tribes of the Plains have practised their nomadic lifestyle within the boundaries of the lands set aside for their use. The dwindling herds of buffalo and deer which provide the staple requirements of their existence are a growing source of discontent but while the Americans, the wasicun, stay out of the tribal lands the tenuous peace is maintained. One word, however, uttered at a riverside meeting with 'Yellowstone' Kelly, raises Wes Gray's concern that that peace might soon be broken, that white men might breech the borders of the Great Sioux Reservation and bring with them the turmoil of war. The object of their trespass, to gain that for which men will risk all. Gold.