Big Sky is the story of the McCloud family living in the Sandhills of Custer County Nebraska. It follows the lives of a hard-headed Irishman, his staunchly Catholic wife and their children as they fall under the lengthening shadows of the Great Depression, illness, infant death, crushing poverty, and their determination to overcome. Not only does the patriarch endure mysterious seizures and health problems, this family faces apocalyptic challenges. The focus is on John - an 8-year old when the story opens - the eldest brother to a brood of hungry mouths and a scrappy fighter, struggling to survive. John is a young warrior, seemingly born to battle the world around him.