Gabriel Lynch, an African-American teenager who has moved with his mother from New York to live on his stepfather's Kansas homestead, brings serious trouble down upon himself and his family when he leaves the farm to join a group of cowboys who turn out to be a gang of criminals.
Offers a brief introduction to the life and times of Nat Love, a former slave who left his family farm and travels west in the hopes of becoming a cowboy.
Tells the stories of various African Americans who made contributions to the settling of the American West, including Bill Pickett, Mary Fields, Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, Alvin Coffey, Biddy Mason, and Jim Beckwourth.