As long as Shane Morgan can remember, he has lived on the road with his mother and father, a rodeo performer. Their dreams of making enough money to settle down happily in one place are shattered when a traffic accident kills his mother, and his father takes so badly to drink that Shane becomes the de facto head of the household. When his grandfather dies, leaving Shane a small ranch in his will, he hopes that his dream might come true at last. But how can a 14-year-old boy turn the run-down place around and keep the banker from seizing it, while attending school and looking after a father who is usually in the liability column?