Though the white-skinned invaders wreaked havoc on the Cities-in-the-West, the tribes of the Grass have escaped invasion and slaughter. But tragedy of another kind strikes. Grandmother Weevil's granddaughter, Flute Dog, a young woman of the Buffalo Horn people, loses her young husband when he is thrown from his horse and trampled on a buffalo hunt. Searching for the horse, Flute Dog, finds a pregnant woman wandering in the wilderness. When the woman dies giving birth, Flute Dog decides to raise the baby girl as her own.

But Rain Child does not fit in with the tribe, even though she learns to ride and train her mother's horses. Rebellious and angry, Rain Child, too, will go off into the wilderness in search of a stray horse and make a discovery that will change her life: an iron pot that brings her the tribe's awe and their fear. The pot is a gift from Coyote, one of four enchanted treasures he will use to lure Rain Child, Flute Dogand their horses into the lands of the northern people.

It is here, among these strangers that Coyote will attempt his grandest plan -- a scheme marked by magic, love, and betrayal that could change the destiny of his Horse people forever...