A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is the debut novel of author Michael Dorris, published in 1987.

Rayona, angry at her mother, runs away and meets a priest of her school, Father Tom, and he takes her on a road trip, claiming to bring her to a retreat for teens.

She gets shipped off to Seattle, by Father Tom, who puts the blame on her about the molestation, but Rayona still returns to work at Bear Paw State Park for a little while.

Although angry at first because Rayona left Aunt Ida's without leaving any information about her whereabouts, Christine eventually reconciles with her daughter.

Christine and Lee aren't allowed to call Aunt Ida "mom" because she tells them was never married and feels it's not right.

Christine, that night, is at a bar where she meets Elgin, a soldier who promises to bring Lee back.

One day while Dayton and Rayona are at a stud appointment for their horse, Father Tom appears at the house and drops off a bottle of pain pills, but leaves quickly after Christine starts to say that Aunt Ida had mentioned something about him.

After Willard undergoes serious plastic surgery and is handsome as he was before, he tells his mother that "Ida may not be pretty or smart, but she was there for me when no one else was."

The final lines describe Ida pantomiming the action of braiding, symbolizing the intertwining destinies of family.