Despite his youth and deformities, Three-Rivers is a renowned visionary among the Longhouse-people. So it is no surprise, that when an insane white savage comes into Mother Earth seeking Hiawatha, that it is Three-Rivers who meets him by chance under the looming forest above the Shellfish-water. There is cause, however, for surprise, and also an otherworldly quest; for this man is possessed by a potent flesh-demon, brings dread warnings of evil invaders, and has been sent into the world by a thunder-conjurer from a mysterious place beyond the very Sunset.