Rusty Sabin was a child when Cheyene Indians raided the Sabin homestead, killing his mother. Raised by Indians, known as Red Hawk, he has no recollection of his white father. His only goal is to kill Wind Walker, the white enemy of the Cheyenne and restore his reputation among the people who abandoned him when he was 15 after refusing to take part in their compulsory brutal initiation.

Rusty Sabin was born to white parents but brought up by the Cheyenne Indians, who named the redheaded boy Red Hawk. His ability to heal the sick and to make strange magic is widely honored throughout the tribe. But in his twenties, Red Hawk sets out to take his place among white people. When Rusty and his stallion White Horse are nearly at the frontier post of Fort Marston, the river boat he’s riding is grounded, and a man called Bill Tenney comes to his rescue. Rusty doesn’t know much about the white man’s ways—especially a white man like Bill Tenney, a thief and a fugitive. Tenney is only interested in one thing—Rusty’s white stallion, considered sacred among the Cheyennes. Meanwhile Major Marston is determined to come between Rusty and his sweetheart, Maisry, and the Cheyennes do all they can to compel Rusty to return to his tribe.

Rusty Sabin extracts two bags of gold from the Sacred Valley, partly to spend on Maisry Lester, the girl he hopes to marry. When frontiersman Charlie Galway tries to steal the gold, Galway murders Maisry's father and blames Rusty's friend, Standing Bull.