Now seventeen-years-old, Jack O’Toole and his Comanche friend Spirit Talker must find the courage and endurance to take on the tough challenges faced in driving a herd of longhorn cattle northward through a hostile frontier to Wyoming. Storm-driven stampedes, wildfires, raging rivers, and attacks by Cheyenne and dreaded Blackfeet warriors test their resolve.
Along the trail to the fledgling ranch of their Black cowboy friend George Freeman, Jack and Spirit Talker must also deal with vulnerable caravans of prairie schooners headed west on the Oregon Trail, defend themselves against a huge angry grizzly, and find a way to free an enslaved Comanche girl.
Does Jack’s faith and friendship with Spirit Talker result in the success of their cattle venture despite the rigors of the trail? Will Jack make it home to Rising Cross Ranch in time for the birth of his first children? And what of the mystery surrounding Zeb, the ever-present wolf?