An entertaining and delightful story of a Navajo Indian boy, and his trials and successes in the effort to buy a beautiful saddle. Hoskie had his troubles- there was the handsome Mexican hand-carved saddle, waiting for him to buy it, but not only were his earnings not enough, but his father insisted he must go to the government school, and he had to give the money he had saved to help pay for the Squaw Dance to make his sick sister well. A final horse race and a wonderful prize bring a happy ending. Hoskie is engaging in his adventures at the high-powered, brisk American school, and his experience of having a white boy for a friend.