The book opens with the meeting of four men, Elksfoot, Pigeonswing, Benjamin Boden, and Gershom Waring. Boden is a bee-hunter, who searches for natural bee hives and harvests the honey. Waring is a down-on-his-luck alcohol trader. And the lives of the two Indians are a source of intrigue. As the four settle into Boden's house for dinner and conversation, they begin talking about the politics of the day, including the impending war between the Americans and the British. The men part ways in the morning, but murder and danger soon follow them all. Elksfoot turns up dead, and Boden and Waring must escape a deadly band of Pottawattamie Indians. Along the way, they pick up new travelers, all trying to find a way out of Pottawattamie territory and certain death.