The protagonist, Grandfather Nanapush, lives on a Chippewa reservation breaking into factions over a treaty settlement. Many Chippewas signed, including the young and outspoken Lazzare and Morrissey, who fiercely argue this cash offer is the tribe’s last chance. But Margaret Kashpaw, a tough and dignified widow, rallies holdouts around her.

On the way back from an evening Mass, Lazzare and Morrissey ambush Margaret, her granddaughter Lulu, and Nanapush. He comes too tied up in a barn with Margaret and pitches a cascade of promises and threats to make the men release them. They knock him out and strip Margaret of her lifelong braids before letting them go.

Shamed but proud of her bald head, Margaret and Nanapush contemplate the need for revenge. Not wanting to die at the men's lowly hands, Nanapush resolves to set a trap, a snare made from piano strings he plucks from the church. Morrissey falls into the noose but frantically manages to hold himself steady and prevent it from tightening. Nanapush could easily knock him to his death but feels too much compassion to do so. Lazarre, on the other hand, afflicted by the curses of Margaret’s stepdaughter Fleur, enters the trading store in hysterics and pitches himself into a row of traps.