The Comanches were the most fierce and warlike of all the Plains Indians. Their raiding parties terrorized settlers throughout northern mexico and the American Southwest during the 1860's. Komantcia opens when the Comanches are at the height of their power. The time is 1865 and Pedro, a young Spanish aristocrat who is accounted the finest guitarist in Spain, has been banished to his uncle's rancho in northern Mexico. The rancho is hit by a Comanche raid. Pedro's mother and uncle are killed. Fifteen-year-old Pedro and his younger brother Roberto are seized and brutally plunged into Comanche life. This is the story of the struggle between contrasting cultures for the heart and mind of a proud, sensitive boy. Despite his resistance, Pedro is gradually absorbed into the tribe and accepts its folkways and mores. He becomes a renowned horse thief and grows to love the wild, sweet life. He learns how to trail an enemy, and how to successfully hunt wild turkeys and other small game. Few things equal, in any way of life, the exhilaration of a buffalo hunt, as a small band of Indians pursue and fell great numbers of the immense, shaggy beasts. The Indian method of horseback riding is a revelation. The young men practice for hours at throwing themselves over their mounts to ride suspended along the horse's side, virtually invisible. Pedro's story is an absorbing and total look into the life of the fearsome Comanches. The reader comes, with Pedro, to an understanding of their beliefs and of the forces that guide their lives. There are many fascinating Indians in Pedro's new life - some good and some bad, and yet all, finally, with their own human dignity.