The story is about a young Indian boy named E'oche who goes to the river daily to watch the water polish stones. One day, the river speaks to E'oche and offers to help him find a special stone to use to keep his tipi warm at night. The river produces a stone for E'oche but insists he wash it each morning, otherwise it will lose its magic. E'oche forgets to wash the stone one morning and it cracks. The river reassures E'oche it is not his fault for forgetting, has him put the cracked stone pieces in the water, and provides a new stone.