In the spring of 1866, Samuel Buford Terry is fourteen when his mother dies. His father and oldest brother were killed during the American Civil War. His only other relative, an older brother, went to Texas to join the Confederacy, but hasn't been heard from. Acting on his mother's death-bed instructions, Sam begins the journey to find his brother, Louis. There is one major problem. His education is minimal and having never traveled further than twenty miles from home, he is totally ill-prepared to undertake a journey to Texas. Arriving in Warsaw, Missouri, he comes under the influence of a family who operate a freight business and with their help begins to learn those things needed to continue the journey, a journey that takes him along the old Butterfield Stage Line route through Missouri, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Texas, and eventually to Tucson in New Mexico Territory. It's not an easy or safe journey as he encounters adverse weather, friendly and unfriendly Indians, and scoundrels, as well as good people, but his encounter with the Mescalero Apache changes his life forever. This historically-based story is fiction, but many of the characters and events were real.