"The Legend of Little Dried River" is the story of Preacher Nehemiah Bleek, a giant bear of a man who is the founder of the Horse Creek Mission School to shelter Indian children orphaned by the Indian wars raging in Colorado Territory. In 1864 the great Cheyenne warrior, Roman Nose, brings his nephew, Red Dust, to Preacher Bleek for safe-keeping. What neither Preacher nor Roman Nose realize is that Colonel John M. Chivington, commanding the cavalry in Colorado, has learned of this sanctuary. An implacable foe of anything Indian, Chivington is determined to wipe out Preacher's lonely outpost.