Ellen Smallboy's life spanned a period of immense change among the Cree of northern Ontario. Born in about 1853 near James Bay, for most of her lifetime Smallboy led a semi-nomadic life that revolved around seasonal hunting. By the time she was an old woman, however, Cree lifestyle and culture were undergoing dramatic changes. Regina Flannery draws on her meetings with Smallboy, then aged eighty, to produce a detailed picture of her life during both these periods.