Phil Mallory is a bored forest watcher on Kelly Mountain. Although he knows he must stay in his tower to look for other fires, Phil longs to fight fires. Not far away, a major fire is burning, and a crew of other Forest Service workers are fighting it. When lightning strikes near Phil's station and starts a small fire, he goes out to investigate.

Alvin Fernald is a sixth-grader who wants to win an essay contest in his class. He is able to get an interview with the mayor, but while waiting in City Hall, Alvin and his friend, Shoie, hear something much more interesting.

Tired of the city life in 1880's Chicago Morris Melborne buys a pig farm in Idaho. Moving his reluctant wife Martha and his children he finds the West still present challenges in the wilderness.

An accident causes him to rely on his son to race against a neighboring pig rancher, since the first one to arrive to market gets the best prices. The boy loses but does win a wager large enough to pay for an operation for his father.