The novel blends history and myth into what one critic called a "prose saga" which reflects the Native American traditions and world view. In "The Storyteller's Farewell," Highwater tells the reader that "among American Indians the teller of stories is a weaver. His designs are the threads of his personal saga as well as the history of his people. Though the designs are always traditional, the hands that weave them are always new." Thus, he explains that, although the stories came from traditional sources, the actual words used to tell them and the ways in which they are linked together are his own invention.

Using the cadence of the storyteller and the oral tradition, Highwater layers stories within stories to allow the inclusion of tales from a variety of Native American tribes in a single narrative. Linked by the journey of Anpao, the tales appear to occur during...