In Momaday`s first novel, Abel is a Jemez Indian returning to his tribe after World War II. An outsider among his own people because of his war experiences and because of the fact that he is the illegitimate offspring of a Navajo, Abel is humiliated at a ceremony, then he murders the man who offended him. After serving an eight-year sentence, Abel moves to Los Angeles, where he is confronted by the Reverend Tosamah, a Kiowa Indian based on a parodic view of Momaday himself. Tosamah proceeds to victimize Abel because he is a longhair --an unassimilated Indian. Abel is victimized in other ways in Los Angeles, and eventually returns to the Jemez reservation to bury his grandfather. Through the use of traditions from both Navajo and Jemez cultures, Abel is finally able to bring together the shards of his identity into a coherent whole.