"Even at the tender age of fourteen, Carson Fielding possessed a preternatural gift for communicating with horses, as well as for sizing up the people he meets in his South Dakota reserveration border town. So when Carson buys his first horse - a run-down, wild-eyed roan - from wealthy rancher Magnus Yarborough, he quickly develops an instinctive dislike for the man and his rough manner with people and animals." "Years later, Carson, now a skilled and respected horseman, is called upon to train Magnus's herd and teach his wife to ride. The spirited Rebecca has a natural aptitude for the world of horses, and, as her lessons progress, she and Carson develop a deep connection that angers the cruel rancher and sets off a violent chain of events." "Thrown into the drama are Earl Walks Alone, a young Lakota man trying to study his way off the reservation and into college, and Willi Schubert, a German exchange student confronting his family's troubled history. Though unlike in background, the characters mirror one another as they struggle with similar issues of love, cruelty, family, and history in a world where connections to the past and to the land speak powerfully about a person's very identity."--BOOK JACKET.