Francesca Fryer offers a fascinating story of the historic Indian-White Encounter along California's Northcoast. Through years of quiet research, from 1965 to 1972, she weaves for all a passionate tale of the lower Klamath River, recording the voice and spirit of witnesses and participants, such as Yurok Robert Spott and Florence Shaughnessy, and non-Indian Harry Roberts.

Overall it is the sandspit, the ever-changing strip of land at the mouth of the Klamath River, the traditional meeting place during the annual migration of the salmon, which provides a physical and metaphorical focus for this supreme story of the human spirit.