What is the importance of The Black Hills in the novel, Winter Counts?

The Black Hills, traditionally Lakota land, symbolize the irreplaceable. Virgil drives though the hills while contemplating Nathan’s legal situation, and the setting serves as an appropriate backdrop for his thoughts, as he is thinking about how much compromise is necessary for his nephew — whether it is necessary for him to become an informant and work for the police, even though he claims that he is entirely innocent. As he drives, Virgil thinks about the Supreme Court settlement that resulted in the Lakotas being given millions of dollars for stolen land that they then refused. In this sense, the hills themselves are a reminder of that which cannot be replaced and should never be compromised.