The film opens long ago in Monument Valley, after tribes of Native Americans have defeated other ancient cliff dwellers; afterwards, Europeans arrived to conquer the Native Americans.<ref name=IMDB /> Later, in the early 20th Century, a tribe of Navajo are living on a reservation overseen by an individual who hates Native Americans, named Booker. He and his men steal the best Native American's horses for their own profit. Nophaie, a tribal leader, complains to Booker's superiors, but he is unable to gain fair treatment from the whites. When World War I breaks out, Army Captain Earl Ramsdale comes west in search of the horses that Booker was supposed to have bought from the Natives for a fair price. Marian Warner, the teacher at the Native American School, befriended Nophaie, teaching him to read; she convinces him that the Great War is a fight for a more just world, and that, when that world comes, the Native Americans will be treated better. Nophaie, not only brings horses for the Army, he and many others enlist, and distinguish themselves in battle. But when they come back after the war is over, they find life for the Native Americans even worse than when had they left. When they go on the warpath, Nophaie rides to warn the Whites. Nophaie and Booker die in the fighting, and Nophaie's sole comfort is dying in the arms of Marion, whom he loved.<ref name=IMDB></ref> The film is a mixture of contradictory stereotypes that aims to show its viewers the subjugation of the Native American people during the time of World War I. Nophaie and his people ultimately come to realize that their traditional ways of life may be coming to an end. They also note that there is an equal place for them within White America.
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