Two Blankets, kidnapped as a girl and required to live as a slave by the Chinook, must cast her own future as a whiteman's wife when her adopted tribe is forced to move to the reservation.

Kidnapped at age ten from her native tribe of Nez Perce by the Chinook and forced to live as a mistshimus, a slave in their stratified society, Girl-With-No-Name has earned a place of some respect and even a name among her new tribe.

Now, Two Blankets must face a new trial when her adopted tribe is forced move to Warm Springs Reservation. Left behind with Marshall, the whiteman husband she was sold to, only her resourcefulness and ingenuity can save her. With her spirit guides Gray Wolf and White Mouse, she pursues the only path left to her-a voyage alone, up the mighty Columbia River, to beg the Tyee of the Chinook for a favor.

She knows she cannot join the Chinook there, as the Tyee, Running Blade, has promised to kill her. For she is a mistshimus-a slave-and her forbidden love of the Tyee's son, Standing Bear, should disrupt the tribe. Even so, she must convince the Tyee to invoke the precedent of the Widow's Sister, and allow her a child by Standing Bear. Only then can she return to Marshall and continue to live in his society with her child and a hope for the future.