Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese
during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his
will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only
increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other
returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence,
Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution.
Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to
beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his
people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremny that
defeats the most virulent of afflictions--despair.