The early 1900s. Sam Wood feels the loss of the frontier; is a witness to change. Raised by his Uncle Gus and Charlie Buck, the Comanche renegade; he finds the land, though changed, is constant. He lives through abandonment, communion with the last of the wild land, reform school, the Pancho Villa border war, and love of his Kate. It encompasses the first half of the 20th century, and makes us feel what has been gained and the price paid for progress.