Hank the Cowdog, head of ranch security, discovers that drinking a bucket of plant food restores his energy but also gives him a serious case of mopwater poisoning.
When Cully the cowboy, a friend and a father figure to Evan, fails to show up at the ranch on an icy Christmas Eve, Evan goes out into the night to find and rescue him.
Friends Alison, Becky, and Meg, spending the summer at Mustang Mountain Ranch with Becky's parents, become involved in saving the wild horses of the area from a bounty hunter.
After leading a privileged life on her family's large ranch in California, thirteen-year-old Cesa de Haro sees many changes when Mexico loses the war with the United States.