Like Waterless Mountain, Dark Circle of Branches focuses on a Navajo adolescent—Na Nai—as he matures, learns from his medicine man uncle and from life, and realizes that his destiny is to become a medicine man. Armer also addresses Navajo legends and the relationship between the white and Navajo world in this later novel, and devotes some narrative sequences to the place of the "Long Walk" in Navajo history.

Although In Navajo Land is an autobiographical account of Armer's experiences, the details she records echo some of the plot details from her fiction.

This work of nonfiction describes ceremonial dances, cliff dwellings, and Navajo customs and traditions, and even includes a chapter on Na Nai.