While the book's physical setting is southern Alberta and perhaps parts of northern Montana, its time period, the 1830s, is much more important to the plot and the book's themes. Because of the introduction of the horse and the gun, coupled with the increasing incursion of Europeans who not only put stress on the land but also caused the indigenous peoples to change their hunting/food/clothing/shelter relationship with the animals around them, Blackfoot life was altered drastically. In her conversation with Jenkinson, Hudson explained some of these changes, the first being that there were fewer men. When a man was astride a horse and carrying a rifle, warfare suddenly became a much more mortal game.

Horse-raiding, a major sport for the young men, also became more dangerous and potentially fatal. As a consequence, most young men were not living long enough to become middle-aged, and it...