The story opens in the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation of South Dakota, where 11-year-old Jimmy McClean is having a tough time at Cold River Public School. Jimmy’s classmates, Corky Brin and Jesse Little Horse, tease and bully him. Corky is white and Jesse, like Jimmy, is a member of the Lakota tribe. Corky and Jesse don’t like each other, but bond over their shared enjoyment of teasing Jimmy.

The other boys pick on Jimmy because of his blue eyes, light skin, and light-brown hair, which make him look more like a white boy than a Lakota. The other Lakota children have black hair and brown eyes. They also have names like Turning Bear and Black Wolf, but Jimmy’s last name is McClean because it was his white grandfather’s name. Jimmy’s father is half-white and half-Lakota but shares the hair and eye color of the other Lakota people. Jimmy’s mother tells him that, even though he is three-quarters Lakota, “Your one white part is on the outside” (3). Corky teases Jimmy for not being white enough, while Jesse teases Jimmy for not being Lakota enough, even though Jimmy can speak the Lakota language better than Jesse.