When Jose Juan Garcia's father arranges an alliance with a local tribe of Comanches to protect the Garcias' livestock, Jose is part of the deal; he is traded for a Comanche girl to cement the bonds between his family and her people. He grows up among the Comanches and becomes a true member of the tribe. Upon his father's death, Jose returns home. When his older brother is murdered, Jose embarks on a trail of vengeance through the mountains of the American West, hunting the savage trapper who fled the scene. In the adventure that follows, Jose joins the Shoshone and shares a forbidden love with the beautiful Chilsipee, who is betrothed to another; joins a party that opens the Santa Fe Trail; learns the shocking truth about his brother's death; and marries Amada, the Cherokee girl for whom he was traded as a boy, to start a new life in the wilderness.