Tom is only a young boy when his dad dies on their subsistence farm. "Oh, God, why did my pa die?" he cries as he fights with his emotions. He struggles with this bitterness as he and his mom head west where he is badly beaten by an angry stepfather. Running away to find justice, and happiness apart from God, leads Tom to an outlaw that befriends him. The outlaw teaches him his philosophy; life is all about good or bad luck. Tom falls deeply in love with a beautiful Christian girl, Mandy, that wants her first kiss to be for her husband. But when she moves away unexpectedly, Tom returns to his old life of searching for happiness apart from God. He runs with a mountain man and learns his viewpoints and trails a gold prospector until they end up in a NM saloon and gambling den. Tom is setup by an enemy of the mountain man and battles courageously but is beaten until he is given up for dead. His last thoughts were "Oh God, help me " Will Tom survive? Will he find life's most important answers? Will he ever see Mandy again?