The film explores the tension between two Spokane (tribe) men who grew up together on the Spokane Reservation in eastern Washington (U.S. state): Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) and Aristotle (Gene Tagaban). Seymour's internal conflict between his Native Americans in the United States heritage and his life as an urban Homosexuality man with a White people boyfriend plays out in multiple cultures and relationships over his college and early adult years. His literary success as a famed American Indian poet, resulting in accolades from non-Indians, contrasts with a lack of approval from those he grew up with back on the reservation. The protagonist struggles with discomfort and alienation in both worlds.