By 1876, most of the nation's American Indians had been forcibly relocated to reservation land. In the Dakota Territory, Red Cloud had settled his people on the great Sioux Reservation, becoming wards of the government. Other Sioux leaders saw this as defeat and continued to live in the traditional way, with legendary resistance. Then an economic depression struck, and gold was discovered in the Black Hills--on Sioux land. In this film, the lives of Charles Eastman-a Dartmouth-educated, Sioux doctor; Senator Henry Dawes-member of the Committee on Indian Affairs; and Sitting Bull intersect in a manner that seems fated. The question that faces the government and the Sioux seems to leave two answers: assimilation versus extermination? It is answered by the assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women, and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 29, 1890.