American settlers new to the north Californian coast, would let their cattle graze freely. Indigenous people would sometimes come across these cattle and treat them as they would wild animals, taking some for meat and hide when the time was right. This infuriated settlers.

On this night in 1860, a mob of white settlers invade Tuluwat, an island in Humboldt Bay, where, heretofore peaceful Wiyot are holding their annual World Renewal celebrations, an ongoing tradition hundreds if not thousands of years old. While indigenous adult men are away gathering supplies, angry settlers slaughter 80 to 250 women, children and elders. Three days later, settlers give the island over to grazing cattle. Since 2000, Wiyot have reclaimed most of Tuluwat, and renewed the World Renewal tradition.