Franklin T. Stilwell, 15, and Brady McCall, 10, are thrown together in St. Joseph, Missouri where their families will join an ill-fated wagontrain heading west in the spring. They quickly become inseparable friends, finagle paying jobs for the winter, and trade their pay for two Indian ponies that will change the course of their lives. Halfway across the unsettled frontier, they are the only survivors of a brutal massacre. Their struggle to survive challenges them on every level and brings and end to a childhood that barely got started. The lives they lead are as epic as the West itself.