Mathew Grady, a Confederate soldier, returning to his home in Tucson, with an unusual horse and dog encounters a young boy and his family, trying to make a go of life in southeastern Arizona. Cochise and his band of Apaches are on the warpath and life is dangerous for anyone who is not Apache. The young boy, Crawford Kensington, and his family appeal to Grady for help. Grady agrees but is hounded by the Union cavalry from Tucson. He refuses to surrender to the Union and must elude their Cavalry to remain free. The trials and tribulations of the Kensingtons is chronicled by Crawford, as only an eight-year-old boy can see things. He doesn't understand Confederate and Union and the notion of nationality but he does understand that he grows to love Matt Grady and his horse, Critter, and his dog, Judd. The introduction of a family of Negros to their homestead, then a family of Mexicans, a homeless Chinese man and, finally a lone, wounded Apache, makes for an interesting mix in a land as rugged as it gets and where survival is truly accomplished only by the fittest.