ThunderCloud, a late-teen, excommunicated Cherokee, must learn to become a man in a world completely foreign to him. With the aid of an Amish clan which takes him in, he realizes how to understand and work better with other people, and that he must return to his Principal People to atone for his shortcomings. His return journey leads him through several harrowing experiences from which he collects a motley gaggle of young people, who may or may not be welcome upon his arrival home!