The elders of the Cheyenne tribe looked at young Thunder Moon critically and found him wanting. Though he was taller and more muscular than the other Indian boys, he could not swim, ride or wrestle as well, and, most despicable of all, he could not bear pain.

Thunder Moon knew his failings, but he did not know he had begun life as the son of a white man. He shrank from the others until one day a water snake bit him, the Sky People sent him a sign, and he began the daring adventures that would make him legend among his people...