Sandra's Hands is a true personal story written by a young teacher responding to the challenge of educating children who have been severely traumatized by violence. The book describes events in the life of Paul Berg between the years of 1966 and 1976, beginning with Berg's service in the Vietnam War and following his life as he returns to America. Berg struggles to adjust to civilian life, becomes a Bureau of Indian Affairs teacher, and encounters another war on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

In 1973 tensions on the reservation exploded and culminated in the 72-day siege of the village of Wounded Knee. Berg finds himself drawn into the conflict as he strives to provide quality education to his students. One of his students, a young Lakota woman named Sandra Woundedfoot, changes his life and would forever change the lives of thousands of people on the reservation. Sandra's Hands provides one of the most accurate accounts of the conflict that took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the 1970s.