Many accounts have been written of the historic expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark across the North American continent. But author Rita Cleary offers the story from a very different point of view--through the eyes of John Collins, who is persuaded to join the expedition by his friend, a hunter who will supply meat for the voyagers. Very soon Collins finds himself having to make friends in a highly mixed company, including a group of French Canadians experienced in the ways of river travel. But of all the risks of the journey, both natural and man-made, perhaps none might prove as dangerous for Collins as his love for Laughing Water, a young Mandan widow with a child. Lewis and Clark's pact with the members of the expedition strictly forbids desertion for any reason. For Collins, his sworn oath becomes not only a question of honor, but a matter of life and death.