In , Ronald E. Holtman explores the deep scars of trauma and how heritage, friendship, and loyalty offer hope and healing. At fourteen, Charles Soaring Hawk Manawa has suffered more pain than most men twice his age. A full-blooded Cherokee living in Broken River, Oklahoma, Hawk's seen his mother abandon him to the neglectful care of his alcoholic father. Now he's mourning his older brother, a Vietnam veteran driven to suicide by chronic pain and war injuries. George Wheeler, the US Army Ranger sergeant who accompanied Hawk's brother into battle, returns from active duty and immediately looks up his old comrade, only to find the war has claimed yet another casualty. Joining Hawk in mourning, George and the young man form a close bond that will have a lasting effect on the troubled teen and traumatized veteran alike. Despite George's stabilizing influence, Hawk's family life continues to grind down the young man's psyche. The return of his mother and her abusive husband proves too much, especially when their relationship explodes into deadly violence.