Sixteen-year-old orphan Tyrell Breen leaves South Carolina and heads west, hoping to make it to his uncle's ranch near San Antonio, Texas. It's 1874, and Ty means to become a cowboy -- although his idea of what that entails comes from half-dime novels. On the way, Ty is robbed of his money and his horse by a gambler named Rip Ford, and arrives at his uncle's ranch a sorry sight ... but not as sorry as his uncle, who has been neglecting everything but his whiskey bottle.