The novel depicts both the Indigenous and settler populations in complex and nuanced ways, chronicling internal divisions within these communities and their relationships with their neighbors.

Native Americans and settlers interact in a variety of settings. The novel contrasts their mostly acrimonious contact on the mainland, where simmering tensions eventually break out into full-scale war, with the much more productively peaceful coexistence on Bethia’s island, where even betrayals like stealing the whale meat or the attack on Joel’s boat end up as one-off events rather than the precursors to general violence. A counterpoint to the antipathy is the deep friendship between Bethia and Caleb, two young people who try to maintain a respectful interest in each other’s worlds without giving up their connections to their own. However, the hope their bond offers ends when Caleb dies, as the pawaaw Tequamuck predicts the eventual vanquishing of his people.

The novel does not paint either the Native or the settler community as a monolithic entity, taking care to delineate the different factions driving each. Native American attitudes towards the settlers range from the militant opposition of Wampanoag chief Metacom, to the resigned bitterness of Tequamuck, to the cooperative trade relationship built by the Takemmy, to the curiosity of Caleb to learn as much as he can from the settlers, to Iacoomis and Joel’s complete rejection of their Native American background.