Janette Wanda Rage is young lady living at home on their farm in Idaho and going to college. She is with her folks, three older brothers, and Granny. She is out practicing her shooting in the upper foothills when she hears a sound she does not know. It stops and she wonders what it was but cannot find it again.
At home, Granny tells Janette that when she as very little they lived in the foothills where she heard the sound. The Indian Chief carried her down out of the foothills to their new cabin. For some reason, the Indians wanted to burn down their old cabin. Granny's father helped them to burn it down.
Janette wants to find their old cabin in what the Indians call Sunken Valley. She takes Little Joseph son of Big Joseph, Chief of the Tribe with her. What else do they find on the west ridge of Sunken Valley that might explain how a valley could be created in the foothills in only one place.
Will this knowledge help or hurt those caught up in the mysteries of this Sunken Valley? What of Janette's future? Is she staying near home dancing the rituals dances of Spring and Fall with the tribe or moving to the big city after school?