Puma Son of Mountain Lion is the story of a half-Indian boy who is away from his village undergoing the rites of manhood. When he returns, he finds that a warring tribe has destroyed his village and killed his people. He sees his dying mother and with her last breath she tells him, 'Go find your father." Puma locates his father in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is educated in the white man's schools. He becomes an officer in the U.S. Cavalry and is placed in charge of protecting a wagon train against Indians. He is also placed in charge of maintaining order as new settlers move into the West and lay claim to land that belongs to the natives. Puma is deeply torn by where his loyalties lie. He is concerned about the war that is developing between the North and the South. His grandparents live in the South and he would again be fighting his own people.
He falls in love with a white girl and they set out to find a new way of life in a new place.
