When low-level flying by NATO jets upsets their way of life, Nanass, a young Innu girl, is eager to join her father and the other members of her Sheshatshiu community in protest. Then her father and other protesters are arrested. Nanass has little to comfort her, except her father's well-worn ball cap and the promise of the land itself that the Innu people will one day triumph. Bob Bartel participated in the efforts to stop those NATO flights; he learned Nanass's story from her aunt, and has Nanass's permission to tell it. Bartel portrays with both power and subtlety the struggle as seen from a child's perspective. Illustrations by acclaimed Innu artist Mary Ann Penashue capture the gentle relationship between Nanass and her family, and highlight the beauty and dignity of her people's culture.

'Nutaui's cap' has been translated into two dialects of Innu-aimun, which appear alongside the English; it includes a glossary, map, and backgrounder to tell more of the Innu's story.