Dee Beans, a young Alaskan Native woman, a Tlingit, leaves perceived limited options in her village for the apparently larger life of Sitka. Although she experiences extreme affronts and challenges from a society dominated by men, she also rediscovers and reinvents important aspects of her culture and of her personal creativity. Ultimately, she restores her family. During many trials, she restores and reinvigorates the power and essentiality of all Alaskan women. John Welsh is a longtime Alaskan. He has lived in several villages, sometimes as a teacher, sometimes as a forestry worker, sometimes as a 'wannabe' commercial fisherman. Many of his students have stayed in touch as they raised their own families. Some of them have kept him informed about their travails. During his twenty or so years in Sitka, many sides of this Alaskan microcosm opened to his cognizance. Readers of The Drums of Alaska will recognize that they are inside the story, as they walk around town.