Jagged lightning of a gathering thunderstorm. Buzzards circle over smoldering debris of a wagon train massacre. Two people are left alive. One, a Cheyenne warrior, fallen unconscious under his dying pony. The Indian drags himself free. Reviving from her faint into a living nightmare is The Woman. He starts to knife her. Then, a huge bird hovers above. To him, a great sign, the spirit of the storm come to spare her life. The morning light assuages her fears. He has not hurt her. A fire kept her warm and he has made a clumsy attempt to feed her. He can't comprehend her words. She draws stick figures in the dirt to express her need to reach a settlement of her own kind. Thus begins an arduous trek across brutal terrain. Fighting off and killing a Crow war party, the Indian gains a horse and a rifle. Enduring winter's freeze and a bear attack, they survive. Their bond of respect and trust becomes love. Before it can be consummated, five white mountain men, led by Buford, appear, offering ...