Out on the American Great Plains, on the same land where Crazy Horse and Custer battled, a new kind of war is brewing—this time, over the exploitation of a natural resource. Crying Earth Rise Up follows concerned Great Plains residents as they seek answers to their questions about the potential threat posed by local uranium mining operations to their region’s largest source of fresh drinking water. To the Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation, water is sacred—water is life. Discovering contamination in her water supply, Debra White Plume, mother and grandmother, sets out to raise awareness about the recent wave of cancer and birth defects afflicting tribal members-illnesses she is convinced are linked to nearby in situ leach uranium mining. For Elisha Yellow Thunder, a Lakota mother whose daughter was born with severe medical anomalies, the threat of water contamination is all too real. Yellow Thunder is a geology student who studies the relationship between the naturally occurring uranium in the area, uranium mining practices, and the poor condition of the water supply. Although the majority of residents in the small uranium mining town support the mine’s activities, recent cases of cancer have raised questions about the safety of the mine among some townspeople.