"The Prairie" by James Fenimore Cooper is a novel published in 1827. It follows Natty Bumppo, the legendary frontiersman now in his final year, wandering the vast American prairies shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. When he encounters a rough family of squatters fleeing the law with a kidnapped bride, the aging trapper must use his frontier wisdom to navigate dangerous situations involving hostile tribes, desperate rescues, and conflicting loyalties on the untamed western plains. (This is an automatically generated summary.)