Bear Butte, known to the Lakota as Mato Paha, is a sacred mountain held in reverence by Plains Indians. This film dramatically illuminates the struggle between native traditionalists, who regard Bear Butte as a place of quiet sanctity, fasting, and prayer, and non-Indian businesses that seek to exploit the land around the mountain. Rallying against increasing encroachment from campgrounds, biker bars, and convenience stores, a broad coalition marches 6 miles from Bear Butte to the Meade County court house in Sturgis, SD. But liquor-license applicant Jay Allen, a Californian, has already begun construction of the World's Largest Biker Bar at the base of Bear Butte ahead of the annual Sturgis Bike Rally... MATO PAHA follows this struggle for religious rights from 2006 until the present.—Anonymous

This film illuminates a real 'Avatar' in the historic struggle between Euro-American and native America over land use. Native People from 17 tribes hold this volcanic mountain northeast of the Black Hills central in their relationship to the creator. The Norther Cheyenne hold it as the origin place of the hero sweet medicine, Dakota heroes like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull prayed here. For White businessmen, Bear Butte represents their defense of land value based on profit and constitutional protections that have cost Native People a continent. A 2006 Prayer March attracted over 700 Native People. In 2010 table dancers, bars owned by Target Logistics (a military Contractor) and hot tubs sit only a stone throw from the sacred Mountain.