Using real historical events and places adventures are woven into the life of Luke, a fictional young boy that carries him through tragedies and successes in the 1880s. Orphaned at the age of 13, he rides west on his one eyed pony, a Sharps Rifle, and encounters Indians and cattle drovers. At a buffalo wallow his pony is killed and he obtains a large black horse. Luke continues west in search of the horse's true owner. At the Rio Grande River, assistance is provided by a Padre who sends Luke on west to the Bar-C ranch to return the black horse. With successful encounters at Socorro and Magdalena, NM, Luke becomes a ranch hand, where his Sharps is used on rustlers, mountain lions, and Indians.