Thomas learns about House Concurrent Resolution 108 from Moses, who warns the government plans to end all treaty support.

Zhaanat's cousin Gerald enters a spirit trance and discovers Vera is alive in Minneapolis with a baby beside her.

Valentine gives Patrice her unused sick days so Patrice can travel to Minneapolis to search for her missing sister Vera.

A cab driver kidnaps Patrice in Minneapolis and forces her into a Paul Bunyan-themed bar called Log Jam 26.

The tribal advisory committee formally votes to rename House Concurrent Resolution 108 the Termination Bill.

Patrice agrees to perform nightly as the waterjack, swimming in an underwater tank at Log Jam 26.

Patrice breaks into the Bloomington Avenue house and finds a dog chained to a wall and near death.

Patrice and Wood Mountain retrieve Vera's baby from Bernadette Blue's home and return together to the reservation.

The Fargo hearing on the Termination Bill ends with 47 tribal votes against the bill and zero in favor.

Thomas proposes a boxing rematch between Wood Mountain and Joe Wobleszynski as a fundraiser for the Washington delegation.

Wood Mountain wins the chaotic second fight against Joe, raising enough money to fund the trip to Washington.

The Turtle Mountain delegation travels to Washington and testifies before the Senate Committee against the Termination Bill.

Thomas suffers a stroke during the train ride home after the Washington hearing.

Vera returns to the reservation after being found on a roadside and nursed back to health by Harry.

Millie receives a grant that will pay Zhaanat for research assistance and allow Patrice to attend college.

Thomas Wazhashk learns that House Concurrent Resolution 108 threatens to strip the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of all federal support and treaty rights. While he mobilizes his community to resist the bill, Patrice Paranteau travels to Minneapolis to find her missing sister Vera, enduring kidnapping and coercion before returning home with Vera's baby. The tribal community holds a formal hearing in Fargo, votes unanimously against the bill, and raises money through a boxing match to fund a delegation to Washington. In Washington, Thomas and the delegation testify before the Senate Committee, but the effort takes such a toll on Thomas that he suffers a stroke on the way home. Vera returns to the reservation after being rescued, and the community begins to recover. The novel closes on hope as Millie secures a grant that frees Patrice to pursue higher education.

The headline fight to save the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Thomas sees the ghost of his boarding school friend Roderick perched on the band saw during his night watchman rounds.

Thomas writes letters to a senator and county commissioner requesting meetings to discuss the threat to his tribe.

Wood Mountain loses his first boxing match against Joe Wobleszynski after the timekeeper secretly cheats in Joe's favor.

Patrice boards the train for Minneapolis and befriends Wood Mountain after a white man tries to force her to change seats.

Thomas calls tribal chairman Martin Cross and learns that Senator Arthur Watkins, a Mormon, is driving the Termination Bill.

Biboon tells Thomas the tribe should assemble a petition and delegation to remind the government of its treaty obligations.

Wood Mountain travels to Minneapolis after his scheduled fight is cancelled to check on Patrice.

Wood Mountain recognizes Patrice performing as the waterjack, shouts her name, and is immediately thrown out of the bar.

Thomas confronts LaBatte about stealing from the factory after Roderick reveals the theft during a night shift vision.

After the Fargo hearing, Thomas spots Patrice's drunk father Pogo stumbling through the streets and lets him go.

Barnes explains to Joe Wobleszynski that defeating the Termination Bill serves both their communities, convincing him to fight.

Vera slowly regains consciousness at Harry's home and opens her eyes for the first time after he installs a door lock.

Patrice and Pokey discover their father Pogo's frozen body inside Vera's abandoned cabin.

Harry kneels before Vera with a ring and proposes marriage while she is still recovering at his home.

Roderick stays behind in Washington by accident and finds community among other Indigenous spirits gathered there.

From Thomas's first ghostly encounter with Roderick to his early letter-writing campaign, this pool traces the quieter actions sustaining the community's resistance. Wood Mountain's first loss to Joe establishes the rivalry that will eventually help fund the Washington delegation, while Patrice's train journey and Wood Mountain's spontaneous trip to Minneapolis reveal the community's deep loyalty to one another. After the Fargo hearing, individuals begin preparing for Washington in their own ways, with Barnes brokering the rematch and Millie and Harry playing crucial supporting roles far from the reservation. Vera's slow recovery in Harry's care runs quietly parallel to the community's own painstaking healing. By the novel's close, even Roderick's restless ghost finds an unexpected resolution, remaining in Washington among other Indigenous spirits who have gathered there for the same reason.

The supporting characters and smaller battles that shaped the fight.

Thomas reads the bill and mentally replaces the word emancipation with termination, grasping its true destructive intent.

Patrice realizes the filth inside the Bloomington Avenue house included human waste, understanding the full horror of Vera's captivity.

Biboon tells Thomas the Chippewa creation story of the muskrat, connecting Thomas to the sacrifice his own struggle demands.

Patrice slips out of Log Jam 26 at night with Wood Mountain after finding the owner Jack collapsed in the alley.

Patrice describes what likely happened to Vera in Minneapolis, and Thomas's suggestion to call the police shocks her and Zhaanat.

Thomas locks himself outside the factory in freezing cold and dances with glowing spirit beings until he can get back inside.

Wood Mountain begins secretly building a cradle board for Vera's baby, a task traditionally completed only by the child's father.

Wood Mountain reveals to Patrice that he overheard Vera was being held in the hold of a ship.

Thomas reads the Book of Mormon to understand Senator Watkins's religious motivations for targeting Indigenous people.

Patrice falls into a hibernating bear's den, naps beside the bear, and wakes feeling fearless and deeply rejuvenated.

Pogo Paranteau's spirit appears over his grave during the night watch and seems to try to pull Patrice's life away.

Wood Mountain asks Patrice to marry him on the drive home from the eye clinic, and she says nothing.

Patrice and Wood Mountain have sex for the first time after he jokes she looks like Clark Kent in her new glasses.

A woman fires shots inside the Capitol building during the delegation's visit, and Patrice contemplates what she would do for her people.

Thomas struggles to recall the word rafters after his stroke, fearing the fight for his people has cost him his mind.

This pool traces the moments of revelation and inner transformation that give the novel its emotional depth. Thomas's insight into the bill's true meaning and Patrice's horrifying discoveries in Minneapolis lay bare the stakes driving both storylines. Spirit encounters mark pivotal moments of survival and release, from Thomas dancing with glowing beings in the freezing dark to Pogo's ghost appearing at his own graveside. As Wood Mountain quietly builds the cradle board and Patrice begins to imagine a future beyond the reservation, the characters' inner lives shift alongside the larger political battle. The delegation's journey to Washington brings confrontation, unexpected solidarity, and profound personal cost, culminating in Thomas's stroke and his quiet daily struggle to hold on to the words he still needs.