In the American West of the late 19th century, hardly anyone is as out of place as Jay Cavendish. The naive 16-year-old son of a noble family has set out on his own from Scotland to find the girl he has fallen in love with. But even though he's traveling on horseback with a compass and sleeps at night with a revolver in his hand, he's completely unprepared for the adventure that awaits him in Colorado. That's where the taciturn but sharp-shooting drifter Silas comes in—he offers to accompany Jay westward, which is just what Jay needs. Jay has no idea that the stranger is after more than the $100 he's asking for his services. In fact, a hefty bounty has been placed on his beloved and her father in the New World—and so wolves and Native Americans are soon not the only ones pursuing Jay and Silas across the prairies and through the forests.