Thirteen-year old Michael is a sensitive, school-loving student from the suburbs of Milwaukee. He is more interested in getting good grades, acting in school plays and playing tennis than in being a cowboy. He's never even petted a horse before. When his father dumps him off to work at a riding stables run by wild and unsupervised young men, Michael faces many challenges and has to grow up fast. Set in the late sixties, the hierarchical and exploitive domination of the horse boys over workers, animals and women accentuates Michael's confusion about who he is and what it means to be a man.