Eleven-year-old Bailey has a reputation for being a coward until the prophecy given him by an Indian medicine man in 1899 in Texas comes true when Bailey encounters a bear in the mountains of Montana.
Having moved to Montana from Tennessee in the 1830s, fearless Angelica Longrider--also known as Swamp Angel--changes the state's landscape, tames a wild horse, and captures some desperadoes.
When his father returns from the war in 1946, a ten year old boy and his family move from their home in a Montana town to an old, run-down farm in the middle of nowhere where they work hard trying to make ends meet.
Unsure of himself and annoyed at having to spend a day climbing a Montana mountain with his bossy father, twelve-year-old Sam must become the guide on their perilous journey down when his carelessness temporarily blinds his father.