The boxers beat each other to a pulp, but the fundraiser is successful. Thomas and Barnes plan a charity boxing event between Wood Mountain and Joe Wobble to raise money for a trip to testify in Washington. Thomas is horrified by Patrice’s news until he locks himself out on a freezing night and the star people visit, giving him peace and hope. Wood Mountain falls in love with the baby and names him Archille after his own father, and Barnes is jealous of Wood Mountain’s apparent relationship with Patrice. She and Wood Mountain retrieve Vera’s baby and go home. Later, Patrice realizes these held people, possibly including Vera. The next day, she returns to the first address and finds a dying dog chained inside. Meanwhile, Wood Mountain decides to check on Patrice. Two Mormon missionaries arrive to convert the band, but Thomas instead asks them for information about the bill’s champion, a powerful Mormon Senator named Arthur V. They will have to testify before Congress. They decide to start a petition against termination and attend a government meeting in Fargo, but the meeting has no power to stop termination. On the reservation, Thomas convenes the advisory committee: himself, Moses Montrose, Juggie, Louise Pipestone, and Joyce Asiginak. He drives Patrice to her addresses, but the first is boarded up and the second has no clues. A man named Jack Malloy offers to help her search for Vera, but if she does not find her sister she must dance as the “waterjack” entertainment at the bar. In Minneapolis, Patrice gets into a fake taxi that instead takes her to a bar called Log Jam 26. Patrice takes the train to Minneapolis Wood Mountain worries about her naïveté and asks for the addresses she will search, just in case. Wood Mountain nearly wins his fight against the local white champion, Joe “Wobble” Wobleszynski, but the white timekeeper cheats to let Joe win. His best boxing student is Wood Mountain, son of the government compound cook, Juggie Blue. He has his eye on the exotic Pixie, but she pays him no attention. Lloyd Barnes is the white boxing coach and math teacher. Zhaanat’s cousin Gerald performs a ceremony to look for Vera, and he sees her very sick and curled up with a baby. Her older sister, Vera, has gone missing in Minneapolis. Patrice supports her mother, Zhaanat, who holds the stories and ceremonies of their people, as well as her younger brother, Pokey. Patrice aspires to something bigger, but for now she just gets by. Her wages support her family, including her violent and drunken father, who comes by looking for money. Patrice “Pixie” Paranteau is the fastest worker at the plant. Thomas lives with his wife, Rose, her mother, Noko, and his younger children. He spends his nights between rounds writing letters to contacts and officials for information about the proposed bill. Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the Turtle Mountain Jewel Bearing Plant, as well as the tribal chairman. The novel is loosely based on the author’s grandfather, who fought against the “termination” of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. In 1953, House Concurrent Resolution 108 proposes to end treaties between American Indian Nations and the U.S. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Erdrich, Louise.