Descendants of fur traders and Indians, the Métis mounted insurrections against the Canadian government in 1869-70 and 1885 led by the messianic Louis Riel. With passion and verve, Joseph Kinsey Howard, author of the bestselling Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome, narrates the tragic story of Riel, the Métis people, and their struggle for a homeland on the plains of the US-Canada border.