In 1825, English peer Lord John Morgan is cast adrift in the American West. Captured by Sioux Indians, Morgan is at first targeted for quick extinction, but the tribesmen sense that he is worthy of survival. He eventually passes the many necessary tests that will permit him to become a member of the tribe.
The only white survivor of a Crow Indian raid on a wagon train is a young boy. He is rescued by the Sioux, and the Sioux chief raises him as an Indian in very way. Years later, the white men and the Sioux threaten to go to war and the Indian-raised white man is torn between his racial loyalties and his adopted tribe.
1821년, 영국 귀족 존 모간 경(Lord John Morgan)은 미국 평원 지대 다고타 지역(Dakota Territory)으로 사냥을 나왔다가 수오족(Sioux Nation)의 한 부족인 노란손 부족(Yellew Hands)에 체포되어 노예가 된다. 그는 노예로서 말(Horse)이라는 뜻의 숀카와칸(Shunkawakan)이라는 이름을 가지게 된다. 숀카와칸의 용맹에 탄복한 노란손 부족들은 그들 동족으로 인정한다. 그리하여 숀카와칸은 돌아갈 때까지 5년 동안 노란손 부족들과 함께 살며 영적인 삶을 체험하게 된다. 신비스럽고 평화로운 인디언의 정신 세계를 접했었던 존 모간은 영국에서 돌아온 뒤 서구 문명의 무상함을 느껴 끝내는 마음의 평정을 되찾기 위해 노란손 부족이 살던 곳으로 돌아온다. 그러나 노란손 부족은 백인들한테 사주를 받은 릭크족에게 기습을 당해 몇몇 생존자만 간신히 남아 도주한 사실을 발견한다. 모간은 노란손 부족의 땅을 되찾아주기 위해 지략을 발휘하기로 마음을 먹는데...
Kansas, 1868. A wagon train is attacked by a band of Lakota Sioux led by the young and athletic warrior Tokalah. The attractive, red haired Anna Brewster-Morgan and her friend Sarah White are on this wagon train too. When Tokalah noticed a terrified Anna with a Bible, he thinks this is an omen. Despite killing the other passengers of the wagon train, only Anna and Sarah may continue their voyage. The next day Anna and Sarah are kidnapped by Tokalah. At first terrified of her captors, the unhappily married Anna eventually falls in love with the noble, honorable Tokalah. After a year's captivity, Sarah is returned to her own people. Anna now must choose between her new life with Tokalah and her previous existence as the wife of farmer Daniel Morgan.
When the South loses the war, Confederate veteran O'Meara goes West, joins the Sioux, takes a wife and refuses to be an American but he must choose a side when the Sioux go to war against the U.S. Army.
Shunka Wakan, formerly Lord John, helps his Dakota son defend their tribe against gold rushers.
Long before Hollywood started painting white men red and dressing them as 'Injuns' Edison's company was using the genuine article! Featuring for what is believed to be the Native Americans first appearance before a motion picture camera 'Buffalo Dance' features genuine members of the Sioux Tribe dressed in full war paint and costume! The dancers are believed to be veteran members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Filmed again at the Black Maria studios by both Dickson and Heise the 'Buffalo Dance' warriors were named as Hair Coat, Parts His Hair and Last Horse. Its quite strange seeing these movies at first they all stand around waiting to begin and as they start some of the dancers look at the camera in an almost sad way at having lost their way of life.
Story concerns the efforts of Buffalo Bill to protect the Indian's land from a gang who want to get the gold buried there. The outlaws disguise themselves as Indians and raid and plunder the settlers in order to blame the tribe.
From Edison films catalog: One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes. 40 feet. 7.50. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film and others shot on the same day (see also Buffalo dance) featured Native American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and represent the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera.
When the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an ordinance separating industrial hemp from its illegal cousin, marijuana, Alex White Plume and his family glimpsed a brighter future. Having researched hemp as a sustainable crop that would grow in the inhospitable soil of the South Dakota Badlands, the White Plumes envisioned a new economy that would shrink the 85% unemployment rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation. They never dreamed they would find themselves swept up in a struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights, and common sense.