In chapter 20 of Sing Down the Moon, summer is ending at the camp of Bosque Redondo. Tall Boy has been helping Bright Morning's family, providing them with a workhorse and strengthening their hut for the winter months. Bright Morning notices that first Tall Boy's father and then his uncles come to talk to her father. They are negotiating a marriage contract and, after several nights, they reach a satisfactory bargain, and Bright Morning is told of her impending marriage.

The wedding ceremony is briefly described. Bright Morning and Tall Boy both dip a ladle into a jar of water and pour it over each other's hands. Then they both eat corn gruel from a basket, over which Bright Morning's father has made a cross with corn pollen. After this ritual, there is a grand feast.

So many relatives have arrived that they cannot all get inside the hut. Various elderly women in Bright Morning's family give her advice about married life. They tend to repeat the same precepts, warning her that she must be patient and polite and never scold her husband. After the feast, Tall Boy moves into the hut, and the family has to make a lean-to nearby to store the things for which they no longer have space.