In Beyond the Deep Blue Horizon, the narrative unfolds in 1880s America. The two main protagonists are a young woman, Josie Red Sky, a mixed-race Cheyenne Indian, and her friend Jessie, a teenage black girl. They go on the run following a murderous altercation with the Schmidts, deceitful owners of the General Store in Carthage, Missouri.
As they journey across the vast American landscape, from Missouri to Montana and on up to the Canadian border, they must deal with various confrontations and challenges to their beliefs about their place in the world. They both attempt to learn from these experiences so that they might lead better and more productive lives, whilst also making new and uplifting discoveries about themselves.
Although this Western drama is set within the history and the prejudices of the time, it is in many ways allegorical. More than 160 years after the American Civil War, a war that evolved under Abraham Lincoln’s leadership to end slavery, the experiences of Josie Red Sky and Jessie are still routinely played out in society today. Yet both young women, in the face of racism and prejudice, discover a way forward, a philosophy, a way of thinking that allows them to live a positive and more responsible life, whatever prejudices we all may face.