Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, and Graham Greene star in this beautifully filmed, action-packed, and romantic Western epic that was also Kevin Costner’s directorial debut.

In 1863, during a battle at St. David’s Field in Tennessee, 1^st Lieutenant John Dunbar is wounded badly and faces amputation. Choosing possible death in battle as opposed to losing his foot, he jumps on his horse and races along the Confederate lines, causing enough of a distraction to give the Union forces a chance to mount a counterattack.

Since the Union is victorious and John is considered a hero, he receives treatment that helps save his foot, is given his horse, Cisco, and his pick of any outpost he wants. Wishing to see the untamed West before it disappears entirely, he eventually ends up at Fort Sedgwick, In South Dakota. It certainly is wild…not to mention completely deserted.

All alone in this desolate place, Dunbar keeps himself busy trying to fix up the fort and hopes that other soldiers will soon arrive. When a group of Lakota Sioux try to steal his horse and begin taunting him, he realizes he would be better off becoming friends with his neighbors than enemies. So, John seeks out the Sioux on their own turf, hoping to establish a peaceful co-existence.

At first, the tribe doesn’t trust him. But slowly, John gains their confidence as he befriends Kicking Bear (a medicine man), Wind In His Hair (a warrior), and Smiles A Lot (a young man). Along the way, he also falls in love with Stands With a Fist, a white woman adopted by Kicking Bear as a young child. When the Sioux see John running and playing with a wolf he calls “Two Socks,” they give him a new name: Dances With Wolves.

As John spends more time with the Sioux, he realizes that most of what he’s been told about them isn’t true. They are good people, and he is fascinated by their culture, language, and way of life. He joins them for a buffalo hunt, helps defend them from an attack by the rival Pawnees, and is welcomed as an honorary member of the Sioux.

But danger lies ahead: U.S. troops are wresting away the land that the Sioux call home. Now, John Dunbar wonders: is he loyal to the Union…or to the Lakota Sioux?