Lieutenant Colonel José María Zuloaga, a Chihuahuan man who enjoys the freedom of the backcountry, receives orders to pursue a group of Apache raiders who have stolen cattle from a ranch. He plans to gather a group of irregulars, rather than official soldiers viewing the expedition as a hunt. He sets out from his headquarters in Buenaventura accompanied only by his father, a retired soldier who joins him for the ride to Casas Grandes. Both men know the stolen cattle are a lost cause, but Zuloaga is driven by a love for the chase itself.

This chapter details the background of Camila, an athletic and independent woman who was raised as an orphan on her uncle’s ranch. There, she grew close to the children of the Indigenous ranch hands. To escape a miserable job as a governess, she entered into a marriage of convenience with Leopoldo Ezguerra, an old rancher who needed a wife to care for him and manage his property. He was drawn to her strength and what he perceived as her “nunlike” quality. 

Their marriage was unconsummated and involved minimal physical contact. On his deathbed, Don Leopoldo requested Camila to touch his face. As he died, he grasped her hand with a final, surprising strength.

Zuloaga and his father arrive in Casas Grandes. Zuloaga quickly intimidates the local justice of the peace, securing permission and supplies to host a barbecue to recruit men for his expedition. The justice acquiesces, informing Zuloaga that a local family has offered to house him and his father during their stay.

The narrator, a writer living in contemporary times, reflects on his current project: to write a book about Apachería, a nation that existed between Mexico and the United States but was erased from maps. He admires the dignity of the Chiricahua Apaches, who, unlike others, chose to fight to the death rather than assimilate. He finds their decision to value their way of life above all else unsettling and deep, contrasting it with his own life of writing to support his family and preserve his own culture.

After Don Leopoldo dies, Camila sends word to his politician son in Chihuahua City. The son asks her to continue managing the ranch until his half-brother, Hector Ezguerra, an agronomist living in the United States, can arrive to take over the family’s affairs.

Zuloaga prepares for the recruitment barbecue. He bullies a local boy into digging the barbecue pit in the center of the town plaza. That evening, Zuloaga learns an important piece of new information: The Apache raid in Janos also resulted in the kidnapping of a woman. This news transforms his leisurely expedition into an urgent rescue mission into the mountains.

The narrator provides historical context on the formation of Mexico and the naming of its northern territories, such as Nueva México and Tejas, as an act of possession by the Spanish. He describes Apachería as a harsh, forbidding land that no one wanted to claim. The narrator explains that the name “Apache” comes from a Zuñi word for “enemy,” given to the Ndeé people by the Spanish.

Zuloaga inspects his new recruit, the local boy, before sending him to tend the barbecue. He follows the boy’s directions to what he believes is an abandoned village. It is actually the ancient ruins of Paquimé. He deduces the boy must be very young and raised in a criollo household, with no memory of the real, now-departed, Indigenous settlements.

Hector Ezguerra arrives at the ranch months after his father’s death, accompanied by his American Quaker wife, Prudence, and their four silent children. Hector is a stern, practical man who immediately takes control of the ranch, dismissing the household staff and implementing a harsh, self-sufficient lifestyle. Camila is stripped of her responsibilities and becomes an awkward, marginalized figure in the household, treated as a ward rather than the former mistress of the ranch.

The contemporary narrator reflects on his personal identity crisis. As a Mexican writer living in New York, he is applying for both US residency and Spanish citizenship to provide for his family. This bureaucratic process makes him feel like his solid Mexican identity is dissolving. He feels disconnected and alienated, like a citizen of a non-existent country, reminding him of the historical erasure of Apachería.

Zuloaga successfully recruits nine drunken young men at the Casas Grandes barbecue. He quickly marches them out of town before they can sober up and change their minds. He pushes them hard into the badlands, planning to instill discipline in them.

Hector Ezguerra provides for Camila out of a sense of duty, but with reluctance. He provides her with a room and food, but her status is drastically reduced, reverting her to a dependent state reminiscent of her childhood. Relieved of all her former duties, Camila is left powerless and bored in the year 1837.

The narrative flashes forward to the early 20th century at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. S. M. Barrett, a school superintendent, is meeting with an Apache man named Asa Daklugie. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of the elderly and feverish Apache war leader, Geronimo, who insists on continuing their work on his autobiography. Barrett urges him to rest and see a doctor, but Geronimo refuses, eventually leaving. Asa remarks that Geronimo might die from sheer stubbornness.

With the help of the kid, Zuloaga manages to wake the cowboys after a very short nap. As the men line up on their saddled horses, Zuloaga sees that the kid has proactively positioned himself and his horse to prevent any of the men from deserting. Rather than offer any thanks for this initiative, Zuloaga simply states that their party is now one person short.

Life on the ranch becomes an ordeal for Camila. Prudence is an indefatigable and severe woman who imposes a strict, sugar-free, Quaker lifestyle on the household, alienating the townspeople of Janos. Camila feels completely isolated and begins writing letters seeking employment elsewhere, hoping to escape.

The narrator discusses the historical context of Geronimo’s famous 1886 surrender in Mexico. He recounts the preceding events, including the Apaches’ escape from the San Carlos reservation, led by Geronimo. Geronimo used the band’s children as a decoy to lead US soldiers on a month-long, 450-mile chase, allowing the main group of warriors to escape safely into Mexico.

The narrator continues his analysis of Geronimo’s surrender, explaining that the Chiricahuas were starving and relentlessly pursued by the Mexican army, making a return to the US reservation the only viable option. He focuses on Geronimo’s surrender statement: “Once I moved like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all” (46). The narrator interprets the final, abrupt phrase, “that is all,” (47) as a final act of resistance to spite the United States.

Zuloaga arrives in Janos and learns that Camila has been missing for nearly five months. He meets Elvira, a former singer who now acts as a nun and was a friend of Camila’s. Zuloaga also learns Elvira tends to two Yaqui brothers who are longtime prisoners in the local jail, and he sees them as potential recruits.

In a flashback, the event that incited the Apache attack is revealed. Hector Ezguerra finds a lone Apache attempting to steal his horse and shoots him in the head. Despite the obvious danger of retaliation, Camila feels a sense of duty to the children and decides to remain at the ranch instead of fleeing.

The narrator briefly tells the story of Kaw-tenné, a historical Apache leader of a band composed entirely of children and adolescents. This band was last seen in 1883, armed with rifles taken from the Mexican army, before disappearing completely.

Zuloaga visits the goteras of Janos and speaks with an old Pima man. The man tells him the local Janero Apaches have gone north to join the Chiricahua and other bands in the Mogollon Mountains. He identifies the leader of the raid as a formidable Gileño captain, once known as Fuerte but now called Mangas Coloradas.

The narrative flashes back to the day of the attack on the Ezguerra ranch. Camila steps out for a walk and is spared the initial massacre. Seeing the smoke and hearing the chaos, she flees across the prairie. She is pursued and captured by a giant Apache warrior on horseback. She fights back, but is ultimately subdued.

The narrator critiques the simplistic historical narrative of the Apache Wars as a conflict between “whites” and “Indians.” He argues that this categorization is inaccurate, as both the Mexican and US forces were multiracial, including Indigenous soldiers, Black soldiers, and descendants of various immigrant groups. The Apaches themselves did not see their enemies as “white” but as distinct groups: nakaiyé (Mexicans) and indad (white-eyes, or gringos).

Zuloaga wakes in Janos to find two more men have deserted. The loyal boy’s name is revealed to be Mauricio Corredor; Zuloaga makes him his corporal. 

Zuloaga meets with Elvira, who is dressed theatrically in a nun’s habit and a swashbuckler’s cape, armed with a revolver. Together, they ride to the burned ruins of the Ezguerra ranch. By examining the remains of Camila’s room, Zuloaga deduces she was an educated and resilient woman, concluding she might still be alive.

The narrator introduces John G. Bourke, a 19th-century US cavalry captain and amateur ethnologist. Bourke wrote detailed and often admiring accounts of the Apaches but was virulently prejudiced against Mexicans. The narrator reflects on Bourke’s contradictions and notes the dehumanizing practice of the US Army, which forced all the Indigenous men at the San Carlos reservation to wear identification tags.

At the Janos jail, Zuloaga and Elvira confront the two Yaqui prisoners. The brothers are twins and are initially insolent. One of them disarms Zuloaga with a quick move, leading to a tense standoff where Elvira draws her own weapon on him. The Yaqui, impressed, returns Zuloaga’s pistol. They agree to join the expedition on the condition that Zuloaga will kill them rather than return them to jail.

The narrator recounts a personal story about refusing Spanish citizenship. At the consulate, he is asked to sign a document swearing loyalty to the King of Spain. Remembering Mexico’s hard-won independence and the torture of revolutionary hero José María Morelos, he finds he cannot sign. He leaves, feeling he has upheld a core part of his identity, and texts his oldest son, Cruz, about his decision.

Camila’s brutal journey north continues. After an attempt to escape by letting herself fall off the horse, her captor kicks her in the ribs and forces her back on. As they enter a narrow pass, she observes the Apaches’ expert horsemanship and military discipline. Despite her suffering, she resolves to survive.

Writing from a café in Zagreb, the narrator reflects on the history of the horse. He details archaeologist David W. Anthony’s theory that the domestication of horses on the Ukrainian steppe around 3600 BCE was a revolutionary technology. Horse-mounted warriors from the steppe ended the peaceful, egalitarian societies of “Old Europe,” introducing warfare, hierarchy, and the Indo-European languages that now dominate the Western world.

Zuloaga’s party begins tracking the Apache raiders. The Yaqui twins prove to be exceptionally skilled trackers. They find Camila’s discarded boots and corset, deducing the method of her capture. After this discovery, three more of the Casas Grandes recruits desert, leaving Zuloaga with a core group.

The narrator describes his family’s plan to spend the summer in Mexico City. He expresses a deep sense of homesickness and a desire to reconnect with his country, his parents, and Cruz. He notes that being separated from Cruz, who lives and studies in Guadalajara, has aged him.

The Apache band arrives at a hidden watering hole. Too weak to stand after dismounting, Camila crawls toward the water. Before she can drink, one of her captors places a large, heavy stone on her back, pinning her down while they and their animals drink. The captors laugh at her agony but otherwise ignore her. 

Eventually, the stone is pushed off, and Camila drags herself to the pool to drink and bathe her numerous wounds, strengthening her resolve to survive. After cleaning herself, she becomes conscious of her nakedness for the first time and crouches by a cliff wall for cover. Later that night, the Apaches prepare to travel again. Camila is forced to pull herself back onto the horse.

Zuloaga offers his militia a final chance to return home before entering the badlands. When one criollo rancher decides to leave, the nun Elvira stops him at gunpoint, forcing him to surrender his weapons and gear to Corredor. 

The remaining two volunteers choose to stay: El Márquez, a dancing master who speaks some Apache, and El Gringo, a rancher’s son. Despite Zuloaga’s private misgivings about his unusual band, he leads them onward. 

They find the Apaches’ trail, which shows their quarry is moving incredibly fast. The tracks lead to a dangerous canyon. Zuloaga orders a halt to wait for nightfall before scouting it. While the rest of the group sings and dances around the campfire, Zuloaga takes Corredor away to teach him how to use his new rifle.

During a routine call with his immigration lawyer, the narrator learns he cannot leave the United States until his green card is approved. His current visa was canceled when he applied for residency, meaning if he travels to Mexico as planned, he will not be able to re-enter the country. 

This revelation is a major problem, as the family has already sublet their apartment for the trip. The narrator accepts the bad news, but his wife, Inés, spends several days researching and exploring schemes to salvage their plans, eventually admitting defeat. Instead of canceling their trip entirely, she proposes a new idea: They should rent a station wagon, and the narrator can drive the family to Apachería.

The next morning, Zuloaga and the Yaquis determine their next route. The only passable route is a shortcut through the canyon. However, this will leave them vulnerable to ambush. One of the Yaqui twins advises they stay in the lowlands, as Camila was taken toward the Gila River. He suggests they can use the Valley of the Moon as a safe route and must avoid the Chiricahua Mountains, which are now Apache territory. The lieutenant agrees with the risk of ambush and decides they will take the valley.

While traveling north, Camila’s captors stop to rest in a dry streambed. The leader orders the youngest warrior to secure her. The boy drags Camila to a cottonwood tree and ties her up brutally. He binds her into a painfully arched kneeling position. Camila realizes that if she loses her balance, she will be hanged. It is revealed that this is a test; she has been positioned to allow her to choose death. Her captors believe that if she chooses to live through the ordeal, she will have accepted her new fate. The men then go to sleep, leaving her awake in the perilous position.

Zuloaga’s troop of nacionales travel north for several days through the harsh wasteland known as the Valley of the Moon, quickly running low on water. Corredor and the Yaqui twins remain strong, sustained by a native desert diet. After five days, the party spots a distant dust cloud. A Yaqui identifies them as Apaches, but Corredor demonstrates his superior senses by correctly identifying them as three gringo ranchers driving cattle.

Ignoring Zuloaga, Corredor and the Yaquis impulsively race toward the ranchers. When Zuloaga’s dehydrated horse prevents him from stopping them, Elvira fires a warning shot into the air, halting their charge. The lieutenant asserts his authority, reprimanding the men for acting like bandits. Alerted by the shot, the ranchers stop and wait for the encounter.

After another agonizing day of travel, the Apaches reach a stream. Having learned from her previous punishment, Camila waits for the men and animals to drink before she quenches her own thirst. Resigned to a new life of constant pain, she endures hunger and exhaustion. That night, her captors do not tie her again. The next morning, Camila wakes to find a blanket has been placed over her. The boy unties her and offers assistance in mounting the horse, but she asserts her independence by doing it herself. When the blanket slips off, the boy retrieves it and lashes it to his own saddle. The journey continues as soon as Camila is mounted.

The narrator recalls a lesson from his former professor that stories must be read from beginning to end to be understood. In the context of his family’s road trip to the Beef Creek Apache Cemetery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he posits that the cemetery is the definitive end point of a specific historical narrative: The story of the Chiricahua Apaches’ resistance to colonial powers, which concluded with legendary warriors like Geronimo dying as prisoners of war, far from their homeland. 

The narrator contrasts this limited “story of an occupation” (102) with the Apaches’ larger history. The family’s journey across the United States has been jarring, particularly the drive from the prosperous, white Nashville to the underdeveloped, majority-Black Memphis. Crossing the Mississippi River, they enter what the narrator terms the American West and its unconscious. As they approach Fort Sill, the narrator views the Apache cemetery as the crux of this unconscious, the ending that gives meaning to the story he seeks to understand.

Zuloaga’s troop, desperate for water, encounters the American trader Robert McKnight, who is traveling with a French gunman and his Coyotero Apache brother-in-law, Pisago Cabezón. The Yaqui twins joyfully greet McKnight, revealing they were once in jail together. After Elvira displays her expert marksmanship, Zuloaga and McKnight enter a tense negotiation. Zuloaga attempts to use McKnight’s newly acquired Mexican citizenship as leverage to conscript him, resulting in a brief armed standoff.

To secure safe passage to Santa Fé, McKnight offers a deal. He will lend Zuloaga his brother-in-law, Pisago, who holds a mortal hatred for the Gileño Apaches, to act as a guide. McKnight provides critical intelligence, confirming that the captive Zuloaga seeks is alive and that the Gileños are amassing a large cavalry in the Chiricahua Mountains. Zuloaga accepts the offer, letting McKnight’s party pass in exchange for the guide and a canteen of water.

The Apaches leave the canyon, emerging into a vast desert. When a calf collapses from exhaustion, the giant warrior forces Camila to participate in a ritual. The Apaches kill the animal and compel Camila to consume its blood and some of its organs. Camila’s body initially refuses the meal, but the Apaches force her to retain it. After the ordeal, Camila realizes she is no longer hungry or thirsty and that her body has become hardened. After the ritual is done, the giant then helps Camila onto her horse, providing a piece of the hide to cushion her ride.

On the way to the Apache Cemetery at Fort Sill, the narrator reflects on how the US Army has appropriated the legacy of the Apache chiefs for whom the base’s roads are named, noting that leaders like Geronimo were born Mexican citizens and died as prisoners of war before 1924 when the United States at last admitted Indigenous Americans into citizenship. 

After passing through an active artillery range, the family arrives at the cemetery, which is surrounded by chain-link fences topped with razor wire. The narrator feels the sacredness of the place, where over 300 Chiricahuas who surrendered in 1886 are buried, unable to return to their native lands. While he identifies the graves of famous leaders like Naiche, Nana, and Chato, his children begin to build an offering. He finds them near Geronimo’s larger monument with a collection of flowers, grasses, and stones. The family sits together in a deep silence after the children place their offering at the foot of the tomb.

This chapter reveals the future fates of several characters. José María Zuloaga and Robert McKnight become good friends, and McKnight dies as Zuloaga’s second-in-command in 1846, never seeing New Mexico become part of the United States. McKnight’s son, Eduardo, grows up Mexican and becomes a prominent politician with Zuloaga’s help. In contrast, Pisago Cabezón never grows close to Zuloaga and eventually renounces his Mexican nationality to join the Chiricahua Apaches, dying in battle against both Mexico and the US.

The narrative returns to the Valley of the Moon, where Zuloaga, McKnight, and Pisago drink together. Pisago reluctantly agrees to guide Zuloaga’s troop to the Gila Valley. As they prepare to leave, McKnight explains to Zuloaga the origins of the Chiricahua band: They are Gila Apaches who rejected peace with Chihuahua to fight for a land exclusively for Apaches.

At the next stop, Camila is awakened by the smell of roasting meat. Overwhelmed by extreme hunger, she crawls toward her captors’ fire. The giant, who is the group’s captain, tosses her a piece of raw meat, which she eats from the ground. He later brings her a calfskin, a blanket, and strips of cooked meat. 

For the first time, Camila observes the men as individuals. She counts the band, finding seven Apaches: two old men, three young men, the adolescent servant, and her captor, the giant. As she studies them, she has a violent fantasy of killing the giant. She also harbors hope that their journey may finally be nearing its end.

As Pisago leads the party into the mountains, Zuloaga notices the Yaqui twins falling behind. Concerned about losing them, he slows down and asks why they were in prison, promising to fabricate a story of their heroic release in his report. After securing Zuloaga’s promise to kill them rather than see them jailed again, the twins recount their story. They explain that they and their cousin were ambushed by criollo ranchers. The twins escaped, but their cousin was captured, tortured, and murdered. To avenge him, the brothers ambushed a rancher and his young son. They killed and mutilated the boy before torturing the rancher, wounding and cauterizing his feet over several days. When they grew tired of this, they killed him. 

A horrified Zuloaga asks if they would do the same to him, but they reply they would do it to El Gringo because he would easier to fight. They condemn the government’s practice of paying for Indigenous scalps as savagery.

While staying an extra day in Medicine Park at his children’s request, the narrator is prompted by his son to re-examine photos of Geronimo’s grave. He realizes the children were right: The monument is a unique, pyramid-shaped burial mound, unlike all the other standard military gravestones for the Apache prisoners of war. The tomb’s plaque simply reads “GERONIMO,” erasing his specific tribal identity and history. 

The narrator then recounts the persistent rumor, detailed in Harlyn Geronimo’s book In Geronimo’s Footsteps, that Geronimo’s skull was stolen from the grave in 1918 by Prescott Sheldon Bush for Yale’s Skull and Bones secret society. He explains the claims made by Geronimo’s great-grandson, including one about an alleged attempt by the society to return a child’s skull in place of the warrior’s. Despite a letter that seems to corroborate the theft, Skull and Bones officially denies the story. The society’s powerful membership makes legal action to recover the remains nearly impossible.

Camila awakens to find the Apaches have departed, leaving her alone with the cattle. She discovers a bundle containing oversized men’s clothing. Before she can dress, the boy from the Apache band appears and directs her to wash in a nearby creek. Camila complies, washing off dried blood and grime and feeling normal for the first time since Chihuahua, feels like a physical return to normality. After cleaning herself, she puts on the clothes.

Pisago successfully leads the nacionales out of the Valley of the Moon to a hidden watering hole, saving them. At camp, he remains apart from the group, eating alone. That evening, Pisago begins to sing, and El Márquez shocks everyone by singing along with him in Apache. 

Elvira points out to Zuloaga that she was right about El Márquez’s ability to speak the language. Angered by the revelation, one of the Yaqui twins accuses El Márquez of being a traitor. In response, Elvira instantly shoves her revolver into the twin’s mouth, forcing him to take back his words.

During their captivity at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the Chiricahuas formed a baseball team. The players were the youngest members of the group, who were either captured as children or born in captivity. Under the watch of the Chiricahua chiefs, they played against teams of soldiers from the fort. Photographs from the time show the boys in their uniforms, which bore the team name, the “Apaches.”

After warriors leave them with a calf skin to eat, Camila and the boy settle into a routine of survival. Camila contemplates escape, but when she attempts to walk away from camp, the boy shoots an arrow through her shirt, pinning her to a tree as a warning. 

As their food supply runs out, the boy catches and cooks pack rats, which a desperate Camila eats. After two days with no food, the boy senses something, binds Camila to a tree, and leaves. He returns with two hares, which they eat. Camila even consumes the raw entrails at his urging. That night, as they lie under the sky, she studies him for the first time. In a key moment, they finally exchange names: She is Camila, and he is Goyahkla. He then signals that it is safe to sleep.

The narrator drives across the Texas Panhandle, intentionally avoiding any stops for gas or other purchases in protest. The narrator explains they refuse to spend money in Texas due to a perceived contradiction: Texas is both the most Mexican and the most anti-Mexican state in the country.

Zuloaga awakens to find one of the Yaqui twins watching their guide, Pisago. The Yaqui confronts Zuloaga, warning him that Pisago has deliberately led their small party deep into the dangerous Chiricahuee mountains, which he calls a “slaughterhouse.” Zuloaga initially dismisses this as tribal animosity, but the Yaqui insists that continuing north to the Gila River to face the main Apache force is a suicide mission. 

The Yaqui proposes an alternative plan: They should kill Pisago, attack the Apaches in the Chiricahuee mountains, and return home. He argues this would be a more practical form of revenge and that the woman they seek is likely assimilated and would not want to return anyway. Zuloaga rejects the idea, stating that his duty as a representative of the Mexican Republic is to restore order, rather than seek revenge. The Yaqui warns him that his plan is foolish. Zuloaga resolves to speak with Pisago.

Artist Elbridge Ayer Burbank, who painted Geronimo at Fort Sill, recalled that the shaman’s defining trait was vanity. During a 1905 painting session, Geronimo claimed that a divine being named Ussen had revealed he would not die in combat. The artist teased him, suggesting he survived by avoiding battle. In response, Geronimo removed his shirt, which he had always refused to do, and revealed his chest bore the scars of more than 50 bullet wounds.

Zuloaga shares coffee and tobacco with Pisago, who reveals his plan for the group to pass a hostile Gileño Apache camp in the Chiricahuas. Pisago will ride ahead alone, creating the illusion that Zuloaga’s nacionales are hunting him. He gives Zuloaga strict instructions for the journey: Move constantly during the day, do not make a fire at night, and show respect at the watering hole near a village called Portal. Pisago, a Coyotero, cannot be seen with them as the Gileños are his sworn enemies. Before departing, he confirms that the Gileño leader Mangas Coloradas holds the captive they seek and that he will only guide them as far as Santa Rita, outside Mangas Coloradas’s territory.

Zuloaga relays the plan to his men. During a tense exchange, the Yaqui twins reveal their names to be Guadalupe and Victoria, after the Mexican president. The men debate Pisago’s plan after Pisago disappears. Despite the Yaquis expressing distrust, Zuloaga decides to follow Pisago’s instructions and leads the group on the prescribed path away from the mountains.

On a snowy night in February 1909, an elderly Geronimo falls from his horse near the Fort Sill prisoner of war camp. Nearly 80 years old, he has partial blindness and deafness. 

When Geronimo’s horse returns to the camp alone, Geronimo’s last wife, Azul, raises an alarm. A group of young men go out to look for him. Geronimo’s nephew, Asa Daklugie, calls a doctor who diagnoses him with severe pneumonia. Geronimo is taken to the military base hospital, where he remains delirious for three days, revisiting his years of conflict. Before falling into a final coma, he tells Asa that he regrets surrendering and should have continued fighting in Mexico until the end.

Victoria alerts Zuloaga that Pisago has detoured into the mountains to avoid the notoriously dangerous Guadalupe Pass. Victoria explains that the pass is a canyon controlled by Apaches, specifically Cuchillo Negro and Mangas, where any outsiders risk a deadly two-sided ambush. 

Despite the immense risk, Zuloaga, spurred on by Elvira, decides the group must take the direct route through the pass to save time. They send Corredor, who has exceptional eyesight, to scout ahead. With weapons drawn, the entire party rides at a gallop into the canyon, fully expecting an attack. The tense passage through the pass, however, proves uneventful. 

As they near the northern exit without incident, Zuloaga correctly senses they are in the clear. Corredor confirms there is no one waiting for them.

Camila wakes and decides to communicate with the boy. She begins a language lesson, reminding him her name is Camila and identifying a cottonwood tree. The boy responds by sharing his hidden cornbread with her. He then reminder her his name is Goyahkla, using a yawning gesture to help her pronounce it. After she says it to his satisfaction, she teaches him the English word “yawn.” The boy connects the new word to himself, saying “Yawn, Goyahkla,” marking their first successful, reciprocal communication.

The narrator and his family visit Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, staying in a hotel with private hot springs. While soaking, the narrator reflects on the history of the town, formerly called Warm Springs or Ojocaliente. He contemplates why the US Army fought so hard to remove the Mimbreño Apaches from this undesirable land. For the Mimbreños, the area was sacred due to the hot springs and contained a small, fertile valley by the Rio Grande. Their chief, Victorio, gave his life fighting to remain there. 

The narrator concludes that the American government’s campaign was part of a broader extermination policy based on forced relocation. The Mimbreños, led by Victorio and Nana, were known as the most insubordinate of the Apaches and were consequently forced onto reservations with enemy groups.

Unable to reach Portal before nightfall, Zuloaga’s troop makes camp. Corredor senses they are being followed by Apaches in the hills. Before dawn, Zuloaga awakens to find the Yaqui twins have vanished with their mules. Fearing the twins have gone to fight the Apaches and will bring trouble upon the expedition, he hastily rouses the camp to depart. 

During the preparations, Zuloaga is unsettled to learn that everyone in his troop except for him and El Gringo is familiar with the region. Elvira and El Márquez share intelligence about Cuchillo Negro, a renegade who reportedly hates Mexicans and has allied with Cochise.

As Zuloaga grapples with his own ignorance and mistaken assumptions, the twins reappear. They report that in addition to Cuchillo’s lookouts in the mountains, the expedition is also being followed by a separate group of three men, likely Mexican bandits. Guadalupe and Victoria express confidence that they can handle this new threat.

In the summer of 1879, Victorio and the Mimbreño people are relocated to a barren reservation at Fort Stanton, finding their old territory occupied by the army. With his people facing starvation on the worthless land, Victorio confronts the corrupt reservation agent to request food rations. The agent refuses, citing the need for a ration card that would take a month to arrive. After the agent makes an infuriating remark, an enraged Victorio physically threatens him. That night, Victorio decides to leave, rallying his warriors and some allied Mescaleros. The next morning, the agent discovers the reservation is empty. Victorio and his followers have fled, stealing the army regiment’s horses and effectively declaring war on the US Army.

Zuloaga’s expedition arrives at the abandoned town of Portal and follows Pisago’s trail to a nearby watering hole. While they rest, they are approached by the three riders who have been following them. Their leader introduces himself as Melitón Läufer, an Argentine detective, who reveals he is also pursuing Pisago to scalp him for a government bounty before going after McKnight. Zuloaga and Corredor argue that Pisago is not the thief. 

Elvira recognizes Läufer as a former theater impresario. Läufer clarifies that the impresario was his brother, killed in a brothel in Paso del Norte. After they exchange a line from a play, Elvira shoots Läufer, killing him instantly. As the twins and El Márquez secure Läufer’s companions, Zuloaga demands an explanation. Elvira refuses to elaborate, and requests they leave the body for the dogs. Realizing the gunshot will attract unwanted attention, Zuloaga orders the group to depart immediately.

During the extended absence of the main band, Camila adapts deeply to her new life with Goyahkla. She learns to hunt hares and consumes raw animal parts with an acquired taste. She also learns some of the Apache language and important information about her captors: The chief’s war name is Kan-da-zis Tlishishen, and he adopted the orphaned Goyahkla, who is destined to become the future chief of their people, the Bedonkohe. 

When the warriors return from a successful raid with goods, ammunition, and horses, they celebrate with a feast. Camila earns their respect and approval by greeting the chief in Apache and then partaking in the meal without hesitation. As the men drink sotol and celebrate, Camila retreats to sleep, fully accustomed to the rhythms of her new existence.

Between August 1879 and October 1880, Victorio led a highly successful military campaign after escaping the Fort Stanton reservation. His force grew from 47 warriors to over 100, uniting notable Apache leaders including Nana, Loco, Kaetennae, Sánchez, Cochise and all his Arizona Chiricahuas, Geronimo, and Chief Juh. Victorio won all his battles against three US cavalry regiments and Mexican troops, reputedly killing over 1,000 soldiers. By September 1880, however, he acknowledged that his people were exhausted and their ammunition was depleted. 

Realizing the campaign would not achieve its goal of recovering the lands of Ojocaliente, Victorio accepted Chief Juh’s invitation to retreat to the Sierra Madre. He led his warriors, along with approximately 300 noncombatants, into the mountains to rest, recuperate, and rethink their strategy.

Zuloaga’s men disarm Läufer’s rancher companions, named Vilchis and Eneas. The ranchers retrieve a sack of money from Läufer’s body, revealing they were the financial backers of his expedition. The ranchers enthusiastically agree to join Zuloaga’s group to pursue Mangas Coloradas instead. 

As the expanded company travels into the Piloncillo Mountains, their morale lifts. After learning from El Márquez that Elvira killed Läufer, Pisago begins to integrate with the group. He starts teaching Zuloaga how to navigate the desert using mountains and watering holes as guides. Watching his diverse troop ride together, Zuloaga feels a deep satisfaction, believing he has finally become a vaquero as they make camp in the high pine country.

At dawn, Goyahkla wakes Camila and provides her with a horse. Using only a skin and a blanket, she joins the group as they head north along Bear Creek. The journey is slow and silent, as her captors are nursing hangovers. 

After traveling for most of the day, they arrive at the Gila River valley. The sight of this lush area causes Camila to have a revelation: She understands that the Bedonkohe are inhabitants of a paradise. Goyahkla then gallops ahead of the group.

While Victorio leads his people toward the Sierra Madre, the governor of Chihuahua, Luis Terrazas, organizes a campaign against him. He offers a bounty of 2,000 gold pesos for Victorio’s death and hires his cousin, the skilled captain Joaquín Terrazas, to lead the hunt. The captain assembles an elite force, including 30 Raramuri trackers and the legendary scout Mauricio Corredor.

Overconfident after a year of victories, Victorio makes a fatal error. He decides to camp in the open plains of Tres Castillos to let his people rest, sending two warriors for ammunition. The men carelessly leave a trail, which the Raramuri trackers find. On October 15, 1880, Joaquín Terrazas’s forces surprise and surround the camp. Lacking ammunition and cover, Victorio’s warriors fight fiercely but know they are doomed. On the second day of battle, Corredor gets a clear shot and kills Victorio. The campaign ends with 68 Apache warriors dead and 120 noncombatants captured. Corredor receives his reward, and the Apache rebellion suffers a destructive blow from which it is not expected to recover.

Entering the ominous Mogollon Mountains, Pisago leads Zuloaga’s company along a dangerous ridge path. Corredor spots lookouts on the peaks, whom Pisago identifies as warriors sent by Mangas. Pisago tells Zuloaga the warriors are a warning meant to intimidate them and keep them on the path toward Santa Rita. 

After assessing his group’s fighting capabilities, Zuloaga reorganizes their formation and they proceed. They reach a fur traders’ camp, only to find it abandoned and dilapidated. As the party discusses the Chiricahua, they hear wolves approaching. Zuloaga decides they will take shelter there for the night. He establishes a watch schedule, assigning El Gringo, Vilchis, and Eneas to the stables while the rest of the group stays in the main cabin.

While having dinner with his family at an Asian fusion restaurant in Truth or Consequences, the narrator asks their waiter if any descendants of Apache leaders Victorio or Nana still live in the area. The waiter, a tall, blond young man, reveals that he is part Apache. He explains that while there are no Mimbreños left in New Mexico. Instead, there are Chiricahuas, and he is a descendant of Geronimo’s sister. 

The narrator’s children are left speechless by this revelation and treat the waiter with a newfound reverence, viewing him as royalty and respectfully eating all of their food.

Zuloaga’s group sets out before dawn, traveling through the snow-covered mountains with the Yaqui twins tracking in the lead. Later that day, they discover that Pisago has vanished. They determine that Pisago left for home, but marked the correct path to guide them toward Mangas’s camp. 

Confident they are close, Zuloaga decides to press on. That night, camped in mission ruins, El Márquez explains how Apaches cover their tracks to mislead trackers. The next morning, the twins report that the path ahead descends steeply into a canyon, which they recognize as a natural death trap where Mangas’s sentinels could easily ambush them.

As the Apache war party nears its home in the Gila Valley, Goyahkla fetches a very old woman who is revealed to be Sich’iné, the chief’s maternal grandmother and a powerful diyin, or war shaman. The chief, Kan-da-zis Tlishishen, is visibly deferential and nervous in her presence. After inspecting the party’s plunder, Sich’iné turns her attention to Camila, subjecting her to a thorough physical examination. 

Sich’iné leads Camila to the Gila River, where she has her undress and bathe. She inspects Camila’s naked body with apparent satisfaction before providing her with Apache clothing. In a final ritual, she puts pollen in Camila’s hair, braids it, and ties a red cloth band around her forehead, completing a ceremonial transformation before leading her back to the group.

Following Victorio’s defeat at Tres Castillos, an elderly Chief Nana survives and gathers 46 scattered survivors, a mixed group of warriors, children, and the old. He leads them through the mountains into the safety of New Mexico. 

To learn the fate of those captured by Joaquín Terrazas, Nana dispatches Sánchez, a man who had rejoined his people after decades away. In the Chihuahua City market, Sánchez discovers 131 captives being sold into slavery. This number is 11 more than officially reported, revealing that the Terrazas cousins were selling unlisted prisoners for their own profit.

Facing a likely ambush by Mangas’s warriors, Zuloaga’s group decides to proceed down a treacherous canyon path. Zuloaga formulates a plan for a staged descent in three groups, using their horses as shields against enemy fire. 

The first group, led by El Márquez, reaches cover at the bottom, with Márquez displaying impressive skill by riding shielded by his horse’s body. Spurred on by this success, Zuloaga and Corredor charge down the path on horseback with pistols drawn. The nun and the Yaqui twins follow suit with equal audacity. The Apaches hold their fire. 

Once everyone has safely regrouped, El Márquez reports that the ambushers have left. Elvira reveals she knows Mangas personally and predicts they are safe for now, a conclusion Zuloaga shares, believing his bold tactics have earned the Apache chief’s respect. The group continues north through the canyon.

Kaetennae and Blanco, Victorio’s warriors who had been sent for ammunition, return to Chief Nana to find their people defeated. Upon presenting the supplies, Kaetennae declares they are too late, but Nana defiantly insists it is never too late as long as one Apache still lives. He delivers a speech honoring Victorio, stating he died free and unconquerable. 

Nana leads his group north toward the Mescalero reservation, where they intend to surrender to the US Army. Reaching the springs of Ojocaliente, they find that the US soldiers stationed there have departed. Nana makes the decision to let his people rest and bathe in the sacred waters. The narrator contrasts this event, as recalled by a child survivor named Kaywaykla, with his own modern family’s tourist visit to the same hot springs.

Zuloaga’s party locates a watering hole where Camila and her Apache captors had recently camped with a large herd of cattle. The Yaqui twins analyze the site. By examining a pile of animal bones, they deduce that one warrior and Camila were left to guard the herd. They also confirm that Camila is likely still alive based on other recent evidence. Their discovery boosts the group’s morale. 

Zuloaga’s confidence in his men is restored, and he separately finds a bone arrow that Camila left behind, pointing north to indicate her direction of travel. Feeling relieved and assured of his group’s competence, Zuloaga declares they will rest, bathe, and recuperate for the remainder of the day.

Camila returns to the group wearing Apache clothing, which earns her a mocking look from Goyahkla. She struggles but succeeds in mounting her horse Apache-style and rides alongside him. 

Later, Goyahkla instructs her to follow the chief, Kan-da-zis Tlishishen, and ride directly behind him. As she, the chief, and a shaman ride through the lush valley, a woman in a field sees them and lets out a predatory cry. The shaman moves closer to protect Camila, taking her reins. Believing she may be about to die, Camila holds her head high. Goyahkla brings a spear to the chief, who then lets out a powerful war cry. Camila silently prays to live long enough to have an intimate experience with the chief before accepting her fate.

After the battle of Tres Castillos, Chief Nana is left with a small, traumatized group of 16 warriors and 32 noncombatants. He sends the noncombatants north to the reservation with Kaytennae and retreats to the mountains with his remaining men to plan revenge. 

During an attack on a Mexican wagon, Nana’s party discovers a trove of silver ingots, instead of the guns they expected. Nana distributes some of the silver for his men to trade for ammunition and buries the rest, its location lost to history. In June 1881, Nana launches a brutal two-month revenge campaign with his 15 warriors and the novice Kaywaykla. Covering vast distances with remarkable speed, they win every engagement against Mexican and US forces, inflicting numerous casualties without losing a single warrior. 

When their ammunition is depleted, a satisfied Nana returns to the Sierra Madre and joins forces with Geronimo, with whom he later surrenders.

While traveling through a canyon, Zuloaga’s convoy is ambushed by Gileño Apaches. Blaming himself for poor tactical decisions, Zuloaga orders his men to surrender. An Apache leader demands to know who among them is from Chihuahua and who is from Sonora, but gives them no time to respond, immediately killing Vilchis and Eneas. 

Defying Zuloaga’s orders, the Yaqui twins launch a counter-attack, killing five Apaches before being riddled with bullets. In the ensuing firefight, Zuloaga’s group takes cover, and El Márquez is wounded. 

The Apache leader calls a ceasefire, stating their fight is only with the Sonorans. After a tense negotiation, the remaining Apaches agree to lay down their arms. Zuloaga emerges to survey the dead and wounded. An Apache boy descends the slope to meet the survivors.