For over half a century the Nez Percés had lived in peace with their white neighbors. Now, in 1877, they were to be rewarded for their friendship by being moved to a reservation in Idaho. Gold had been discovered, and the red man had to make room for the prospector and the speculator. Chief Joseph had tried the course of reason, but when neither the white commissioner nor his own angry braves would listen, he had only one choice: to protect his people. Chief Joseph and his three hundred warriors attempted the long trek to Canada and freedom, carrying their women, children, and their wounded, while they fought off the converging army columns and scores of hostile civilians...only to meet disaster thirty miles from the border.