Challenge Windzer, the mixed-blood protagonist of this compelling autobiographical novel, was born at the beginning of the 20th century, 'when the god of the great Osages was still dominant over the wild prairie and the blackjack hills'. Windzer finds it hard to fulfill his destiny, despite oil money, a university education, and the opportunities presented by the Great War and the roaring 20s.
Critics have praised Sundown both as a literary work and a vignette into the Native American past.