In 1977, armed only with a bottle of Yukon Jack and his big ten-inch butcher's knife, a young, blue-collar dreamer named Johnny Reznick sets out from the grimy flatlands of Cleveland and discovers a better world high in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

But Johnny and his hell-raising buddies soon learn that being street-wise and ready to party all night doesn't get you very far in the rugged Southern highlands. In fact, it usually only lands you in trouble. Along the way, these city boys find themselves tangling with hungry bears, raging white water, sultry Southern women, a host of cops and rangers, and even a creature called a snot otter.

All the action in this hilarious backpacking adventure takes place inside the park or in the nearby tourist town of Gatlinburg. Over the course of thirty years, a maturing Johnny ventures back into the mountains again and again—sometimes with old friends, sometimes with a lady—restlessly searching for the wildest backcountry places where society ends and rules don't matter.

The story culminates with a series of attempts to climb the most elusive Smoky Mountain of all, Mount Guyot (pronounced "GEE-oh"), where few people ever set foot. After three decades of booze, dope, and broken dreams, can a newly-sober John Reznick finally find his mountain and claw his way to the top? The years are working against him, but faith and love are on his side.