The film is based on real events. At the end of the seventies of the previous century the fights against the Sioux were over, and the US-Army started putting the Indian tribes living to the West of the Rocky Mountains into reservations. Among those tribes was the peaceful hunter and fisher tribe of the Nez Perces. The cavalry under Colonel Howard takes the horses of the Nez Perces in order to prevent them from fleeing to Canada, which would be the tribe's only option to avoid their own decay on the reservation. The deputy chief White Feather takes over the seemingly impossible task of bringing back the herd of horses. His chances of succeeding improve when he finds out from scouts of the Cayuse that Fort Lapwai, the destination of the Americans, has been destroyed and that Howard's group is in trouble. The Cayuse pursue the cavalry and the dissolving groups arrive simultaneously at the debris of the fort. When the Cayuse attack again White Feather manages to the get control over the herd and takes it back to his tribe.