Return to a time in America when millions of buffalo roamed the Great Plains, Native Americans lived free and trappers sought their fortunes by overcoming tremendous obstacles in their search of the beaver. Walt Thornley, a seventeen-year-old farm boy, and Silky Hanson, a thirty-seven-year-old farm hand, become convinced they can find riches in the western Indian Territories of 1840 by trapping beaver and taking buffalo hides. Leaving Independence, Missouri in early May they stop for one last beer in Westport Landing where they meet Jerome, an easygoing alcoholic drifter who convinces the two farmers to let him join their venture. The three would-be trapper-hunters enter the Great Plains with few supplies and less knowledge of how to survive. Misadventures begin occurring at an alarming rate. As their adventures unfold, Silky is unable to adjust to the stringent requirements of traveling on the open prairie: his hostility toward Native Americans and his unwillingness to learn the necessary survival skills traps him into making costly mistakes. Walt, on the other hand, has the energy and youth to learn and adapt to the West; soon he is taking on an ever larger responsibility for leadership.