The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Erdrich, Louise. Four Souls. Harper Collins Perennial Paperback, 2005.

The story is focused on the life and experiences of Native American Fleur Pillager, but is narrated from a variety of perspectives, none of which is Fleur’s. Instead, her story is told in the first-person voices of Nanapush, an elder from the same reservation as Fleur, and Polly Elizabeth, Fleur’s white sister-in-law. Later in the book, the book adds the narrative voice of Margaret, Nanapush’s common-law wife.

The narrative is set in the mid-late 1920’s, and early 1930’s. In the aftermath of having her land and her trees taken from her by white businessman John James Mauser, Fleur travels on foot to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Mauser has constructed a house using materials from her land and from other Native American lands. She gets a job as a servant, befriends Mauser’s wife Placide, and eventually finds herself with an opportunity to accomplish her goal and kill Mauser. She finds, however, that in the moment of her opportunity, she is unable to follow through and lets him live. For his part, Mauser becomes increasingly attracted to Fleur. He eventually divorces his wife and marries the woman who almost killed him. They have a child together, but live mostly separate lives. They are both taken care of by Polly Elizabeth, who is desperate to experience family and belonging, and who eventually becomes a confidante to Mauser, a friend to Fleur, and a parental figure to their child. Eventually, Mauser loses all his money, and leaves to travel the world. Fleur takes her son and what possessions she can salvage, and returns to her reservation. Polly Elizabeth finds happiness with Mauser’s manservant, moving with him to a house on the edges of Fleur’s reservation and making a life there.

At that point, the narrative shifts focus onto Nanapush, the friend and confidante to Fleur who had, up to this point, been narrating her story. Nanapush describes the ongoing tensions between himself and his common-law wife Margaret, who replaces Polly Elizabeth as the book’s alternative narrator. Nanapush struggles to accept the change in circumstance when Margaret becomes obsessed with covering the dirt floor of their home with linoleum, and also with her Roman Catholic faith. Their quarreling intensifies when an old rival of Nanapush’s, a man named Shesheeb, moves back onto the reserve. Nanapush becomes increasingly jealous, going to dangerously extreme lengths to defend his home and his life with Margaret from what he sees as Shesheeb’s interference. Meanwhile, Margaret has a spiritual experience that leads her to gather materials for, and make, a “medicine dress” (174 et al) which she believes will give her great power.

At first, Nanapush helps Margaret make her dress, but his foolish arrogance gets the better of him, and anger again erupts between the two of them. In a misguided attempt to win Margaret back, Nanapush steals some wine from a local convent, but ends up drinking it before he can get home. This leads to a series of complications that eventually end with Nanapush wearing Margaret’s dress while making an important speech to a community of elders deciding on whether to accept the offer of white businessmen to purchase their land. In spite of the strangeness of his appearance, Nanapush’s argument convinces the elders, and they vote to reject the offer.

Shortly afterwards, Fleur arrives back at the reservation, and begins a stealthy campaign to take back the land that Mauser had sold to another buyer. Eventually her campaign is successful, and she gets her land back. Afterwards, Margaret guides her into, and through, a series of ritual cleansings designed to help Fleur move beyond her anger and desire for revenge. As the novel concludes, Nanapush describes Fleur as living a very quiet life back on her land, and contemplates the way in which the process of change can lead to good outcomes, even when that process becomes painful and difficult.