The original novel was significantly longer than its published counterpart, but under the advice of Ruth Benedict, a colleague of Franz Boas, the novel was condensed to half of its size in order to focus more closely on the plot.
The novel follows two generations of Sioux women, Blue Bird and Waterlily; a mother-daughter pair who both learn through life experiences the meaning and importance of kinship.
Waterlily takes place in the Great Plains of the Midwest and recounts the nomadic nature of the Sioux camp circle.
The Sioux term for camp circle, tiyóšpaye, is an essential throughout the novel as a driving force for bonding, conflict, relationships, and change.
Although Waterlily is told from a third-person omniscient point of view, it is unique in that it focuses mostly on women's roles and experiences in Dakota society.
As an ethnographer, her ability to translate such important events in the Sioux culture has made her novel a notable and well-recognized piece of literature in the study of native kinship.
In Waterlily, Deloria exposes unique and controversial Sioux traditions, among them, the Sun Dance ritual and bridal purchasing.
Deloria uses ethnography, anthropology, and historiography to wholly encompass all aspects of Sioux culture in a way that would inform and entertain.
Blue Bird promises Waterlily that Rainbow would throw her a hunka ceremony making her a "child beloved" (a very honorable status) if she gets well.
Rainbow also demonstrates his own importance within the tribe by being asked to become a member of the Kit Fox Society, an elite group of prestigious men.
Rainbow then plans a trip to go visit his kola, which was a term held for men who pledged a very strong friendship pact to each other.
This event held men who had made oaths to their words as individuals fasted, wept, sang, or subjected themselves to ritualized scarring.
During this ceremony, Waterlily notices Lowanla, a boy who had a beautiful singing voice who was part of the Sun Dance.
Rainbow and the rest of the family return home and Blue Bird lectures Waterlily about the proper ways to accept a marriage.
Waterlily witnesses the Virgin's fire, where Leaping Fawn vindicates herself after a man incorrectly tries to tarnish her honor.
Waterlily is surprised when Lowanla remembers her from the Sun Dance, and tells her that he had received a little bucket of water at the ceremony and had hoped that it was she who delivered it.
Kinship obligations were a required necessity in order to maintain the delicate and intricate nature of camp life and ascribed to each person's role and status in the group.
Kinship ties were essential to the survival of the camp circle and under ideal conditions were supposed to be seen as a pleasurable and necessary responsibility.