1. Though Hank resents the control his father has exerted over his mother, he cannot help himself from trying to dictate Chloe's life. Though Chloe is willing to risk pain in her relationships with animals, she avoids the risks associated with opening her heart to people. How do issues of control and risk affect each of the characters in this novel? What balance exists between smothering safety and reckless risk? Between freedom and responsibility?

2. What is the relationship between the Native Americans of this story and larger American society? How do conflicts between these groups affect the relationships between the characters of the novel?

3. Chloe gives a pup--half-wolf, half-dog--to Junior. What does Junior, a half-breed himself, learn about taking care of his half-breed pet? How does the pup reflect the personal histories of both Chloe and Junior?

4. We learn that Junior has stopped creating jewelry. What is the cause of Junior's artistic block? What brings Junior back to his work? Do you think that this is an experience common to other artists?

5. The novel examines love between men and women, as well as the bonds between parent and child. Hank, Chloe, and Junior must transcend troubled relationships with their own parents if they are to embrace their new roles as parents. How does the past affect Hank, Chloe, and Junior? To what extent does one generation pattern relationships for the next?

6. The love triangle in Mapson's novel comes to what is in many ways an unconventional close--a shift in point-of-view, a leap in time, and an unorthodox resolution. How does the final chapter echo the rest of the novel? How does it resolve the conflicts of the story?