The text describes the efforts of journalist Leslie Whitten to obtain access to the Broken Treaties papers, stolen documents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. After initially meeting with resistance from the Indians who had taken the papers, Whitten eventually secured a small batch and agreed to write stories about them. The Indians' ultimate aim was to get the papers back to the government, but when this became impractical they decided to use them as leverage for talks with the government. However, before they could do this, the administration moved in and arrested Whitten and Hank Adams, the man most committed to returning the papers.