Skipper, an otherwise normal colt, must go through the Rites of Passage as strangely, his steps have tended to skips since birth, kind of strangely. Between his knees, his manners don't make sense for Thor, his father, and Grace, his mother, can't always be there as Skipper continues to explore the wilder ranges surrounding him now in California's Central Valley. While his own herd disdains Skipper's strange ways, still the yearling manages to make friends with its guardian dogs. The other colts his age love sports, but Skipper can't really score in his isolation. As he learns to focus on next fall's rodeo, not the summer's final scores, he finds the Central Valley isn't always fair--so how does a stallion emerge?