Jimmy Outten is a 13-year-old farm boy who has never left home before. The Civil War is almost over, the house and barn have burned to the ground. The stock is gone. Confederate and Union soldiers marching across the land have taken every scrap of food. His mother has died from a war-borne fever. When his father limps home, a medical discharge in his pocket, they decide to head west. Uncle Charlie has a ranch just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the future seems to beckon. It might have happened that way, but his father is killed after little more than a week on the trail and Jimmy is left to decide whether to go on or go back. Back to what? With 13-year-old bravado and little else, he decides to continue his journey - alone. With a little help and a lot of determination, he fights the terrain, the weather and his own youthful doubts. Toughened and matured by the trip, 15-year old Jim completes his odyssey in a little over a year, and arrives in Santa Fe a man.