In the wake of the Bakken oil boom, Lissa Yellow Bird, a recovering addict and ex-con, embarks on a seemingly endless search for the missing and murdered people of her North Dakota community in hopes of building a better future.

Atakawea is a verite documentary following Lissa Yellow Bird, a relentless searcher of Arikara descent and a member of the MHA Nation. A former addict and ex-convict, Lissa has dedicated the past decade to solving cold cases and searching for the lost and forgotten across the Great Plains. As the Bakken oil boom fuels crime and corruption in western North Dakota, Indigenous communities face an escalating crisis of missing and murdered people. With no official support, desperate families turn to Lissa for answers.