The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Howe, LeAnne. Shell Shaker. Aunt Lute Books, 2001. Print.

The novel starts with the chapter “Blood Sacrifice.” A location and a date are listed under the title of almost every chapter in the book. The first one is set in Yanabi Town on September 22, 1738. Shakbatina, a Choctaw woman, narrates the chapter in the first-person present. She tells the origin story of her people, which revolves around her direct ancestor, Grandmother of Birds, who became a peacekeeper for her tribe. Shakbatina is supposed to be a peacekeeper, or “Shell Shaker,” as well. However, Shakbatina feels like more of a warrior. Her daughter, Anoleta, is married to Red Shoes, who has a wife in the Red Fox tribe, too. When the Red Fox woman is murdered, Anoleta is blamed. In order to create peace between the two tribes, Shakbatina sacrifices herself to the Red Fox tribe, who beat her to death.

“The Will to Power” is set in Durant, Oklahoma over 200 years later in 1991. The narration is third person with a focus on Auda Billy, but the focus changes from chapter to chapter, and even within the same chapter, creating an omniscient third that switches back and forth between 1991 and the 1700’s. Auda Billy is the oldest daughter of Susan Billy, who is the direct descendant of Shakbatina. She stays up all night after being sexually assaulted by Redford McAlester, the chief of the Choctaws. Shakbatina appears to her and dances with turtle shells. Auda had been an assistant professor at a university before she met Redford McAlester, who was an aspiring politician. She was so inspired by him that she quit her job and started helping him with his campaign for chief. Once he was elected, she worked closely with him. They fell in love and she was proud of the work they were doing for the tribe, but over the years he started changing. He started working with the Mafia to open casinos and embezzle money. She was appalled at his behavior, so she cut ties with him. He left her to herself, but then he bought her a red dress and demanded that she wear it to work. When she did not, he took her into his office and raped her. The spirit of Shakbatina tells Auda to use fire. Auda gets out of bed and dresses in the red dress, then goes to McAlester’s office with a gun and the intention of killing Redford. He is shot hours later, and Auda is arrested for the murder although she cannot remember the moment of his death. Her mother, Susan, confesses to his murder at the station.

Tema, the youngest Billy sister, performs a play in Dallas. She hears a voice speaking to her in Choctaw and accusing her of killing Red Shoes. The next morning, her son, Hoppy, brings her a fax telling her that McAlester is dead. In the second section, the middle Billy sister, Adair, is working as a stockbroker in New Orleans when she receives the news. She calls a lawyer, Gore Battiste, who she had a brief love affair with nine years ago. Isaac Billy, the brother of Susan Billy, comes to town. He goes with Hoppy to see a psychic who tells him his ancestors are back and ready to fight. When they get back to town, they see that the sheriff’s station is on fire. Auda and Susan both escape the fire and walk home. The whole family reunites at Susan’s house. Susan Billy is arrested again, but Auda is allowed to stay at home.

In December of 1738. Shakbatina’s husband, Koi Chitto, has a dream that Anoleta is dead. He goes home to perform a burial ceremony on the three-month-old remains of Shakbatina and to investigate news about Red Shoes and his desire to create war.

Back in 1991, Delores and Dovie Love, Isaac’s old friends, arrive to help. Auda goes to visit the dentist to fix her teeth, which the arresting officer broke, but she is attacked by the nurse, who injects her with a lethal dose of insulin that puts her in a coma.

On the Winter Solstice of 1738, Red Shoes returns to Anoleta. She sleeps with him, but she plans to poison him the next night to avenge her mother and prevent him from bartering her village away to the English.

For the first time since the opening chapter, Shakbatina narrates in the first-person. She says that she has returned to 1991 for vengeance. The chapter switches back to its omniscient third-person present. Shakbatina’s spirit appears to Carl Tonica, the business partner of McAlester who was helping him embezzle money with the Mafia, and causes him to get hit by a truck.

In 1748, Red Shoes returns to the Choctaw village with the English and starts a war with the Choctaw and the French. Anoleta tried to poison him nine years prior, but her sister, Haya, warned him and he escaped. A horrible battle is fought and Anoleta’s father and relatives are killed. She and Haya follow Red Shoes and push him into a fire. The twelfth chapter, “Suspended Animation” is one of several chapters that is set outside of time in the Talihina Rocky Mountains. While Auda is in her coma, the spirits of Auda/Anoleta and Redford McAlester/Red Shoes are revealed to be one. McAlester tells Auda that he has ten million dollars stolen from the Mafia hidden in his dog food crates. Isaac and Delores take McAlester’s body and the money and bury everything in Mississippi.

Adair and Gore fly to New York to get evidence proving that McAlester was working with two Mafia brothers: Hector and Vico D’Amato. They meet McAlester’s friend, “James Joyce,” who was helping McAlester funnel money to the IRA to terrorize the British. Back in Oklahoma, Hector attempts to break in and kill Tema and Auda, but Tema pushes him down the stairs and kills him. Vico D’Amato kills Isaac and Delores in Mississippi, but then the Mafia kills Vico for failing to return the money that McAlester stole from them. Auda wakes up from her coma and goes to trial where the judge rules that McAlester was killed by the D’Amato brothers. The FBI shuts down the casino. In the final chapter, Shakbatina narrates one last time and reveals that she pulled the trigger when Auda went into McAlester’s office with the intention of killing him.