An adventurous love story set within 1837-1848 Texas about an Irish boy stolen by the Comanche, the outcast woman who is said to be a witch and raises the boy as her own, and the Comanche girl who captures his heart.
In 1837, the Kane family leaves Austin, Texas by wagon in search of a good place to settle. Irish immigrants Peter and Abby Kane, and their children, Jennifer and Samuel, journey west together. The Kane family travels through the Texas Hill Country to find a lush green valley that seems perfect to live. It's the ideal spot to live: a river nearby, wildflower-dotted hills, and plenty of trees and animals. After young Comanche warriors trying to prove their strength attack the family at night, Samuel, at eight years old, is taken by the tribe.
Mitena, an outcast of the Pasaapuni Comanche tribe, is handed Samuel, who is given the name Lone Tree. She sees the boy as a gift, treats him as her son, and raises him through the years. Samuel falls in love with a girl in the tribe named Pedra, who he befriends in childhood, but her parents keep her away from him despite Pedra wanting to stay with him.
In 1848, Lone Tree, now eighteen years old, learns to hunt buffalo, which then prepares him to fight in battle. Diseases like Cholera, smallpox and measles kills hundreds of Comanche. The medicine the Comanche need is with the Americans, and recently the Americans have refused to trade with the tribe. With war with Mexico on the brink and diseases spreading among the Pasaapuni, the future of The People is in doubt. But Pedra and Lone Tree work together to help their people prosper once again.
A bittersweet tale of an Irish boy who is raised by the Pasaapuni band, becoming a respected warrior by eighteen years old, and who falls in love with a Comanche girl, despite her parents' pleas for her to marry someone who is not white.
The spare and character-driven first book in the panoramic The People series, detailing the epic story of the Pasaapuni Comanche band, from the 1830s to 1870s.