Yucca Woman

Driven by the desire to rise beyond the traditions of her tribe, the Arickaree, Stands Tall strives to become a great lady of south-central Colorado in the 1840s. Raped by a nephew of the chief of the Arickaree, Stands Tall, along with her grandmother, Wolf Mother, exile themselves and move to the foothills of the Huajatolla (Wha-a-toya) Mountains. A hatred of men smolders in her mind. Away from the harassment of Broken Horn, the chief's nephew, they live in a cave her grandmother used many years earlier. On the sunny cliff in front of the cave, Stands Tall weaves her yucca strands into beautiful items of clothing and blankets—until the day she hears a strange chanting coming from the stream far below. It was a chanting she could not understand, but from it she would soon learn of new horizons that could be opened to her by a man of a different race.