Award-winning screenplay: In 1805, a 16-year-old kidnapped Shoshoni girl returns to her people with the help of white explorers. But the harsh reality she encounters forces her on a spiritual journey toward her true purpose and destiny.
Sacajawea, The Windcatcher is about a kidnapped and abused Shoshone girl in 1805. Through Sacajawea's eyes this harrowing tale unfolds showing her strength, wisdom, and the respect given her by the Lewis and Clark explorers. Though she is devastated and heartbroken when she finally returns to her people, she trusts her Spirit's call and accepts what seems an unhappy fate not yet realizing her true destiny is before her. Sacajawea's courageous journey brings hope to women of all ages around the world. Her life, as authentically depicted in this film, honors the proud heritage, traditions, and languages of all Native Americans and indigenous people. The story is based on the Lewis and Clark journals, Shoshone culture, tradition, and Spiritual wisdom throughout this award-winning screenplay by Jane L. Fitzpatrick.—Sacajawea The Movie, LLC
It is Autumn 1800. The Shoshone people are camped at Three Forks, the headwaters of the Missouri River. They are securing food for a frigid winter by following the path of the buffalo. Among the group is a 12-year-old girl Boinair, who is preparing for her traditional celebration of womanhood. She is betrothed to Wakini and her future as a Shoshone wife and respected woman of her tribe awaits.
But that evening when the men are away hunting Hidatsa warriors attack the vulnerable village. As chaos erupts, villagers stumble down the hill to hide in the cottonwoods. Boinair hears the commotion, but she is already at the river when two warriors on horseback rush toward her chasing her into the deeper current. She fights with all her might. But in that moment, everything changes when she is stolen away from those she loves.
In early 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissions his secretary Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to the Pacific Ocean. By June, William Clark joins the Corps of Discovery.
At the same time along the Knife River, Boinair is now a slave at the Hidatsa village. She has been given the name Sacajawea by the chief, which means Bird Woman. As property of the tribe, she is helplessly traded for a gun to a brutish French trapper Toussaint Charbonneau. She is soon pregnant with his son.
By November 1804, the Corps of Discovery arrives at the Hidatsa village. They are searching for an interpreter to negotiate for Shoshone horses to cross the treacherous mountains. The tribe welcomes the men, their trinkets, and their guns. With winter approaching the explorers build a fort to stay until Spring.
Sacajawea believes these men are her way back home. After convincing her arrogant husband that he could be important to the explorers, especially since his woman speaks Shoshone, Charbonneau secures a place on the expedition for them both. Despite Captain Lewis' tremendous doubts about taking an infant on this harrowing trek, they head west toward the distant snow-capped peaks.
Through horrendous weather, starvation, and the constant threat of death the corps relies on Sacajawea's memory of Beaver Head Rock, and they finally reach the Shoshone village. After five years "Boinair" is reunited with her friends and family. But her joy and the dream of staying with her people are soon lost when she faces Wakini at Shoshone Cove. He tells her she cannot stay because she and her son belong to the white man.
After blessing Sacajawea's child, lifting him to the Great Spirit, her uncle Chief Cameahwait shares his wisdom with his niece. He ignites Sacajawea's spirit by giving her a gift and a new purpose to reach the Great Water. Though devastated, Sacajawea trusts her Spirit's call and accepts what seems in that moment an unhappy fate - not yet realizing her true, timeless, and consequential destiny is before her...
