Tatum Saint and his father shared a dream of the Rocky Mountains, but when his father was killed, young Tatum decided to make that dream a reality. But wherever he goes, there's always somebody needing help. Now as he prepares to build a cabin in the wilderness, he stumbles across a couple of runaway slaves that were seeking freedom in the uncharted territory. After their camp is destroyed and brother and sister are injured when Tatum stampedes a herd of elk, he feels obligated to care for them until they recover. Tatum finds it an arduous process to settle in the mountains, with confrontations with the Caputa Ute, mountain lions, and grizzly bears. But when the Jicarilla Apache take the girl and his friend, White Feather of the Comanche, captive, he and her brother, together with Tatum's friends from the Comanche, must mount a rescue. Using their own superstitions against them to balance the odds, the challenges and confrontations prove to be deadly and overwhelming. But not only must they battle the dreaded Apache, they must also face the assaults of nature herself, not just to rescue the captives, but to survive as well. It is a hard lesson to learn that freedom in the frontier does not come easily nor without great cost.