In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his Lakota family planted industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after other crops had failed. They put their hopes for a sustainable economy in hemp's hardiness and a booming worldwide demand for its many products, from clothing to food. Although growing hemp, a relative of marijuana, was banned in the US, Alex believed that tribal sovereignty, along with hemp's non-psychoactive properties, would protect him. But when federal agents raided the White Plumes' fields, the Lakota Nation was swept into a Byzantine struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights and common sense.

A co-presentation of Native American Public Telecommunications, Standing Silent Nation represents a sample of the quality work that Prairie Dust Films is capable of producing.

It had a successful national broadcast during POV’s 2007 season and garnered many festival and professional awards, including the Audience Choice for Best Documentary at the Sedona Film Festival and a nomination for the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award.

As part of a community engagement campaign, Standing Silent Nation is being used to educate viewers, lobby government officials and spur action on behalf of industrial hemp production in the United States.