The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Erdrich, Louise. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2001.

Louise Erdrich's novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is written from the third person omniscient point of view and in the past tense. The novel employs an atypical narrative structure, alternating between scenes from 1996 and those spanning the years from 1910 - 1962. The following summary adheres to a linear mode of explanation.

In 1910, Agnes DeWitt was living at the local convent as a nun, Sister Cecilia. Roughly six months into her tenure at the convent, Sister Cecilia discovered an all-encompassing love for music. She could not resist playing the piano, and fell in love with the music of Chopin. The trouble was, however, that Sister Cecilia had a habit of playing the piano naked. She felt stripped down to her elemental form when she performed, and often orgasmed while doing so. When the Mother Superior discovered what she was up to, she revoked Sister Cecilia's piano-playing privileges and locked up her music.

Unable to live without the piano, Agnes shed her name, habit, and life at the convent and fled. She ended up on the land of farmer, Berndt Vogel. Over the course of the following months, the two became companions and lovers. Then one day, Berndt was killed trying to rescue Agnes from a local robber and kidnapper.

Agnes was overcome by sorrow and despair following Berndt's death. One day, Father Damien Modeste traveled through the region and visited Agnes. During their visit, he listened to her woes and told her about his upcoming mission. He was traveling to the Little No Horse reservation to convert Native Americans.

Shortly thereafter, Agnes discovered Father Damien's body on the roadside following a devastating flood. Realizing she had no life to return to, she donned the priest's robes and identity and headed to Little No Horse.

Throughout her early days on the reservation, Agnes struggled to orient to playing the part of the priest. With time, however, she realized that as Father Damien she could be anyone she liked. She decided that Father Damien would orderly, loving, generous, and kind.

Over the course of the following years, Father Damien became an active and integral member of the Little No Horse community. The closer he became with his community members, the more he learned from them. The more he learned about their Native traditions and beliefs, the more Father Damien's spirituality evolved. He realized that God was not limited to the Christian God, and that faith was not limited to the Christian faith.

Decades later, Father Damien received a visitor. The visitor was a young priest by the name of Father Jude Miller. Father Jude was eager to meet with Father Damien so that they might discuss a woman by the name of Sister Leopolda. Sister Leopolda was a former member of the Little No Horse community. Father Jude had heard that she had performed a litany of saintly miracles and sacrifices, and was eager to write her history. However, the more stories Damien told Jude about Leopolda, the more confused Jude became. Leopolda did not sound like a saint after all. Indeed, her character was proving to be far more ambiguous and contradictory than Jude expected. Despite what he had heard about her from Damien and various other residents, Jude set to penning her story. The more he wrote, the more questions emerged. Ultimately, Jude realized that the true saint was not Leopolda but Father Damien.

As Father Damien approached the end of his life, he decided to commit suicide. He could not bear the thought of his friends finding his body and discovering the secret self that lay beneath. He therefore rowed out to Spirit Island, burned his boat, made a fire, and drank. While drinking, he communed with the spirits of his dead friends, laughing and rejoicing at all he had been given. He ultimately died of laughter. His old companion Mary Kashpaw rowed out and sunk his body in the water.