Young cocksure Tadd Tyler has the itch to travel He convinces his friend, Mathew Custis to run off to Buffalo to see a light bulb at the Pan American Exposition and maybe shake hands with the President. On their arrival things quickly go wrong. Matt meets a young teenage Native American girl, Running Water, who is descended from a legendary Iroquois woman. Left to himself Tadd meets a man who intends to shoot President McKinley. Can Tadd save the President and repair the relationship with his best friend? Will his Mother give him a spanking for running away? Has Matt finally found the girl of his dreams? Based on Tom Sawyer.