Raised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decision to hunt a whale, both a symbol of spirituality and rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to see tragedy befall the son he left behind.

This literary journal features poetry, short stories and essays by Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Rita Dove, Carolyn Forche, Martin Espada, Sherwin Bitsui, Clarence Major, Marilyn Nelson, Patricia Spears Jones, Quincy Troupe, Linda Weasel Head, William Pitt Root, Mark Childress, Jodi Angel, Louis Alberto Urrea, Sandra Cisneros and many others. This tribute to Native American writers, Joy Harjo and Linda Hogan, is Cutthroat's Tenth Anniversary Issue.