Bigelow Mann, a strapping young man of 19, was exactly as his nickname implied - Big. Leaving Iowa after his parents and younger sister, Amanda, to search for a more prosperous future in California seemed to suit him fine. That is, until their plans quickly turned to ashes at the hands of a warring band of Cheyenne. When the attack on the wagon train was over, Big found his parents had been among those massacred and his little sister had been kidnapped by the redskins. He, along with the train's scout, Nate Smalley, were the only two survivors. Nate was a former Army scout. He took Big under his wing and taught him all he could about scouting. Mann was a quick study, and that was a good thing. The two found themselves trying to outwit one of the most savage and bloodthirsty Cheyenne in the territory-an unusually tall Indian by the name of Nahiossi with a vengeance against white man-as they tried to rescue Amanda. The parents of Big and Amanda may have had their sights set on a new life in California, but the Mann siblings, reunited, managed to make a good life for themselves just a few miles from where their nightmare had begun.