RIVER PEOPLE (1991) follows the story of David Sohappy, a Native American spiritual leader who was sentenced to a five year prison term for selling 317 salmon out of season. Sohappy became a symbol of resistance for indigenous people of the United States and beyond. RIVER PEOPLE uses Sohappy's case to explore the historic controversy over fishing rights and the right to religious freedom. Behind the controversy is a story of a man caught in a conflict between two cultures and two seemingly irreconcilable ways of looking at the world.