Fancy Dance 2024

On the Seneca–Cayuga reservation, Jax cares for her 13-year-old niece Roki after her sister Tawi vanishes two weeks earlier. With tribal police and the FBI reluctant to open a missing persons case due to Tawi’s history of disappearances, the pair survive by stealing cars and selling them to Boo, a trader who runs a convenience store and scrapyard on the reservation. Jax discovers that Tawi had been involved in methamphetamine distribution in the oil workers’ camp, acting on Boo’s behalf. This harsh, precarious routine underscores the stakes as family and law enforcement navigate jurisdiction, trust, and survival.

Child protective services place Roki with her estranged white grandfather Frank and his wife after learning about Jax’s criminal record. They are sympathetic to Roki but refuse to let her live with Jax on the reservation or attend the powwow. Jax promises Roki that they will meet Tawi at the powwow in Oklahoma City, and they slip away in Frank’s car during the night, hoping for a reunion that may never come. The tension between love, legality, and the pull of home runs throughout this latest chapter.

Because the reservation sits under federal jurisdiction, Frank and his wife file Roki’s abduction with the FBI. At a bustling shopping mall, Roki grabs a handbag, her car keys, and a Ruger pistol, sparking a cascade of consequences. Jax’s half-brother JJ, who serves with Indian tribal police, informs her that Tawi was seen some time ago at Boo’s mother’s home in Tulsa, amplifying the anxiety and guiding their next moves. Roki overhears Jax telling JJ that she believes Tawi will not be at the powwow and is likely already dead. Jax then detours to Tulsa to speak with Boo’s mother and learns that Tawi used to come by in a red pickup truck, a clue that tightens the knot of danger around them.

An attendant at a Shawnee filling station recognizes Jax from abduction alerts and wants to notify the police, but Roki uses the stolen handgun to threaten him, accidentally discharging it and wounding the attendant in the shoulder. As they flee, Roki confronts Jax about the danger she has put her in over the past two days, and for lying about her mother being at the powwow before running away. JJ locates the red pickup in Boo’s scrapyard, threading together more of the puzzle and pressing the pursuit forward.

A remorseful Frank calls again, delivering the grim news that Tawi’s corpse has been found in a nearby lake. Realizing that Roki did not go with the police, Jax races toward the Oklahoma City powwow, driven by a mixture of duty and longing to keep her family safe. The film closes with a poignant moment as Jax and Roki dance together in the annual Missing & Murdered Memorial dance, a quiet, resolute connection that a wary officer at the ceremony notices and radios to alert his colleagues, tying the narrative thread back to the ongoing search for truth and closure.