Based on a true account, young Samuel Ellis, age 10, has recently moved to the Dakotas with his family in the late 1800's. There he befriends a wounded whooping crane and nurses it back to health and the two form an unusual bond and begin a wonderful friendship. Together they have many adventures, some dangerous, some humorous. And through this extraordinary relationship of a boy and bird, we learn a great deal about creatures of the wild and the delicate balance between extinction and existence.