The massacre of Heavy Runner’s band is based on the Marias Massacre, also known as the Baker Massacre. American soldiers, led by General Eugene Baker, were sent to persecute Mountain Chief’s band, as they were believed to be harboring Owl Child, the murderer of Malcolm Clark; instead, they ended up killing Heavy Runner’s band, a group that had pledged friendship to the white settlers and sought protection from the U.S. government. Most of the people who died were elderly people, women, and children. The massacre becomes proof that the Napikwans do not care about maintaining friendly relations and are willing to punish all the Pikuni for the crimes of Owl Child. However, the atrocities that the seizers commit in Heavy Runner’s village are far worse than anything even Owl Child and his men have done. As Fools Crow walks through the camp, he stumbles over the charred body of an infant. Those who managed to escape the burning lodges were shot trying to run away. The image of Heavy Runner pleading for his life while showing the soldiers the piece of paper promising protection to him and his people evokes the way in which the Napikwans have again and again failed to keep their word and treat the Pikuni humanely.

Despite the horrors of the massacre, the novel ends on a hopeful note by concluding with a traditional ceremony honoring the Thunder Chief in the Lone Eaters camp. Fools Crow is now a well-respected warrior and leader in his community and has a wife and child whom he treasures. Because of his increasing powers as a healer, and the fact that he was chosen for such an important vision, it seems likely that when Mik-api dies, Fools Crow will become the Lone Eaters’ next “many-faces man.” Above all, the ending highlights the endurance and optimism of the Lone Eaters after all they have suffered; even the blackhorns–the animals on which their livelihood depends–are grazing in the distance. Although Fools Crow knows what is to come for his people, he has faith that the Pikuni way of life will not die out, no matter what the Napikwans do to them. By giving the story a happy ending and concluding with a traditional ceremony rather than the massacre, Welch resists making the story of the Blackfeet and other native populations a clear-cut tragedy defined by the increasing presence of white settlers.