Here as it unfolds is the chronology of the native American woman's life. Here are the birth rites of Caddo women from the Mississippi-Arkansas border, who bore their children alone by the banks of the rivers and then immersed themselves and their babies in river water; here are Apache puberty ceremonies that are still carried on today. Women were both guardian of the hearth and, on occasion, ruler and warrior, leading men into battle, managing the affairs of her people, sporting war paint as well as necklaces and earrings.