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A proposed congres­sional act would lead to the "termination of Federal supervision over the trust and restricted property of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas. The urgency of the situation is difficult to perceive at first because it's shrouded in the banal language of bureaucracy. The Night Watchman follows Thomas and Pixie over the course of a tumultuous year.ĭuring the long, slow nights at the plant, Thomas keeps himself busy with paperwork he leads the tribal council, and he has come to realize that his community is under dire threat.

(Erdrich's characters point out that when the North Dakota reservation was created, the white settlers took the best land for themselves and left the scraps to the tribal nation, which holds the land in common.) Most of the plant employees are women-they scored higher on manual dexterity tests-including Thomas' niece, a bright, driven young woman with beguiling eyes whom everyone calls Pixie, even though she would prefer to be called Patrice. The year is 1953, and the plant has brought a new kind of employment to the Turtle Mountain reservation, where many people still work as farmers and poverty is a persistent issue.