Outlaw Ben Masters and his bank-robbing gang find little Adoreana Dean in the ruins of a Rocky Mountain homestead and bring her with them on the run, leading to a life-or-death decision for Ben when the law reaches out for the child.

Sodbusters are about equal to farm animals on the social scale of the ranching community of Wyoming in the 1870s. Zach and Carrie Bennett, teenaged children of that wretched class, are determined to escape the scorn. They resolve to trek to Texas on foot. They are babes on the prairie, ignorant of the geography and hostility. This incredible journey through the lawless West reveals human nature at its most base and unveils a capacity for violence...