The fictional characters Angus and Callie McCracken and their three young children have been baptized in England, then have travelled across the ocean and North America in order to join the other Saints in Zion. They chose to follow the Cherokee Trail, rather than the Mormon Trail (which, as Sorensen points out in her foreword, some pioneers actually did). However, their plans come to a devastating halt when Cheyenne Indians attack their wagon train near the north fork of the Little LaRamiee River and massacre most of the company, including Angus. Callie and the children, who had hidden under a false bottom in their wagon, are the only survivors.

Determined to still see her children to Zion, Callie now leads her family on foot towards Fort Bridger where they can get help. The trip spans many months, many physical hardships, and many spiritual ones as well.

After several weeks of this, which spans the first third of the book, winter is approaching and Callie prays earnestly for more help in bringing her family to Fort Bridger. She receives it in the form of a horse -- carrying a deeply wounded Cheyenne warrior on its back. She is grateful for the horse, but at first she has no intention of helping the "savage" who comes with it. Gradually her heart softens and she nurses him back to health, first planning only to turn him over to the authorities, next out of a sense of duty, and finally out of friendship. The Indian, Three Elk, becomes an invaluable resource and friend for helping the family to survive the bitter winter months and to ultimately reach Fort Bridger. Callie herself undergoes a transformation, at first fighting against Three Elk and his ways and nature in general. Slowly she learns to accept him, the Indian way of working with the wilderness instead of fighting it, and God's will for herself as well.

A message of the book, appreciation for all people, is brought out several times. One of my favorite places is in the following scene where Three Elk is teaching the children to snare meat:

     The snaring technique turned out to be simple. A flat, heavy stone was propped up on one end by a stick, and between where the two met, another stick slanted down at an angle. On its tip they pushed something for bait, and when a small creature came to wiggle it free, the rock fell with a crushing blow. The secret to success, Three Elk emphasized, was to find the right game trails on which to set the traps and to sing the song for "taking meat."
     . . . Jamie was curious, "What song's that?"
     Three Elk began intoning a chant with the resonant, nasal sounds Callie had heard him use before. "Hunh-ha, hunh-ha, eh-ha, eh-ha, eh-ha . . . "
     The sound was not unlike the song he sang every morning when the sun rose, nor the one he sang when it set. In fact, she wasn't sure she could tell his chants apart, although the savage seemed very serious about it. "Haa-he!" he said abruptly. "That my song. You must sing own song."
     Jamie nodded, but the Indian was not satisfied. "Sing,", he ordered.
     Jamie looked sideways over at where his mother was cutting up cattail roots. "Hunh-ha," he began, tenuously, "hunh-ha -- "
     Before she could object, Three Elk threw up his hand. "No. Your song for taking meat."
     The boy sat silent for some time, and Callie waited, giving him room to work through this himself. Then suddenly, Jamie's face brightened and he burst out in his boyish, off-tone voice, "How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord . . ."
     Callie could still hear the chorus echoing down the ravine after he was gone from sight. She chuckled. "Sounds like he'll scare off most everything before they even get a chance at his bait."
     "He learn," Three Elk answered calmly. "He learn."

Overall this is a well-executed, well-crafted book. Sorensen's writing style is vivid and detailed. In her foreword she explains the research that she did for this book, visiting every spot on Callie's trail and consulting a survival expert for methods. I learned a great deal about wilderness survival, particularly the Indian way of life (assuming Sorensen's research is accurate, which I personally have no way of judging, although I also have no reason to doubt that it is).

The scope of the book is deeper than I can discuss in a short review, and I only have two real criticisms about it. One, Callie's children seem very well-behaved, considering how much they are made to walk and endure and how little they have to eat. Perhaps the hardships have made them more mature, and perhaps children unused to cars and TV would be more willing to go though them, but it seems to me that getting three children to walk across Wyoming would be a near-impossible task. Callie's children just seemed too cooperative. Second, I felt that the story ended too abruptly, just outside of Fort Bridger where they bid farewell to Three Elk. The final scene itself is quite moving, with Three Elk breaking his lance (thus the title) as a symbol of the hate going away between their people and the cultural walls between them going down, but then it ends. After all the McCrackens have been through, I really would have liked to see them reach Zion, or at least civilization, even if it were only in a follow-up chapter. But because this part was not included, I was left feeling as if they never made it. Unfortunately, the author, Michele Sorensen, died of cancer in 1995. Perhaps (though I don't know) she was simply unable to write farther than she did. (Does anyone else know about this?)

I found this book enjoyable and thought-provoking. There is action and adventure, but it all heads down a linear trail and isn't the "thriller" type you'll find elsewhere. I have to admit that at times the story seemed slow and plodding, just one thing -or nothing- after another. But that's what walking across Wyoming would really be like. It would involve survival and taking one day at at time, not experiencing plot twists at every corner. So in that respect I feel that this book is well-written. The story is fiction, but I felt like it really could have happened in the way that it is told. This story will stay with me for a long time.