Born into a railroad family in the mountains of West Virginia, Daniel Edwin James decides from an early age to follow in his father's footsteps and become a railroader. Living at the crest of Cranberry Grade, young Dan is fascinated with the trains and especially with the locomotives that pull them. The men gather and watch the passing parade of man and machine doing battle against the mountain. The sound, the exhaust, the steam that envelops the locomotives-all call to the young boy. But it's the guys who run these giant fire-breathing beasts that really capture Dan's imagination. These engineers are called "hoggers," and Dan is determined that one day he, too, will claim this coveted title.