The story of Ritta Baker, a young Lakota woman, who witnesses the murder of her traditional grandmother. Frightened for her own life, Ritta leaves the violence of the Reservation. During a thunderstorm, a strange, colorful school bus appears through the South Dakota rain. She hitches a ride and is befriended by Patch, a three-legged dog, and four young people seeing America through the purple haze of marijuana smoke. Her journey leads her to the Red Power Movement that occupies Alcatraz Island, and a new understanding of what it means to be an Indian and a woman.
