Born to a traveling Show Jumping parents riding the circuit, Sam was just a tween when both of them were killed in a tractor trailer accident leaving him alone and stranded. Rather than let Social Services place him in a foster care system, he steals his Dad's truck and heads for Florida where he is hired as a stable hand for a small Show jumping Trainer. Both Sam and his boss, Poppy Kellam drive to a Seizure Sale and return the proud owner of the mare the show jumping world calls the 'Death Mare'. Caught between his boss, Poppy Kellam, and her abusive husband in a fight over the sale, Sam leaps in to stop the latest beating only to receive it in her place. Sent to the ER with a concussion, he wakes up to find the cops questioning his motives as they search for Poppy's husband. The only trace of him is his blood in the abandoned car at the airport. The only witness to what might have been Kellam's murder is the mare.