After witnessing her family's slaughter, a young girl disguises herself as a boy and flees across the Wild West, escaping dangers and discovering her true identity.

SYNOPSIS:

In 1868, New York City, Cara Ward, is a 16 girl more comfortable roughhousing with her twin brother Dominick and Granville, his best friend (also her future fiance) than in being the lady her mother wants. Tragedy leaves Granville and her entire family dead with Cara falsely accused of their murders. She dons boy's clothes and flees west. There she undergoes a harrowing journey of gender self-discovery all the while evading the men who butchered her family. She and a team of misfits, including a very special horse, flee from New York to Kansas and finally down the Santa Fe trail to New Mexico to find refuge with her uncle.

For the journey, Cara hooks up with a reluctant trail guide and a pair of Buffalo soldiers who have forged an unusual alliance. At the same time she meets a young soiled dove whose dream is to open a lady's hat shop and falls head over heels in love with her. She joins them on the trail.

A series of adventures with local hooligans, misunderstood Indian encounters, bounty hunters and wild animals follow her and her companions to her Uncle's ranch. Unfortunately, her families' killers got there first and a deadly battle ensues, with tragic results. In the end, Cara discovers what she really wants is not to join a conventional family, but to start her own family that fills her needs.