Will Braddock doesn’t want some old judge dictating his future. The newly orphaned fourteen-year-old embarks upon a quest to determine his own destiny. He heads west to find his uncle, a surveyor on the first transcontinental railroad. He has to convince his only living relative not to sign the judge’s papers sentencing him to a blacksmith apprenticeship. He wants to be free to ride across the windswept prairies and through the forested mountains, not pound horseshoe nails in a barn.

He wants to be a part of the excitement of building the Union Pacific Railroad. Will must prove to his uncle he possesses the gumption to make his own way in the dangerous West. He receives advice from newfound friends, but he learns he must rely upon himself to achieve his goal. He constantly battles a young Irish thug, who harbors a vendetta against his family and is determined to kill him. A mixed-blood Cheyenne youth, whom he saves from quicksand, gives Will two eagle talons from his amulet in thanks. The talons save Will’s life—more than once. He’s convinced they are lucky, even though they are not magical.

After Will achieves a coveted position as a hunter for the railroad, and thinks his problems are over, a feisty girl he befriends is kidnapped by Cheyenne Indians. When the Army refuses to send troops to rescue the young lady, Will decides to disobey his uncle and risk his own future in an effort to free her from captivity.