By the mid-1830s, mountain man Joe Meek has gone from greenhorn trapper to seasoned mountain man. A storyteller and a courageous frontiersman, he has a well-earned reputation for bravery and generosity among the hunters of the far west. One winter, as Meek is rounding up a herd of horses, he is caught off guard by severe weather. As he races to make it back to camp, he stumbles upon his friend’s Shoshone wife, Mountain Lamb, and her infant child, who have also found themselves far from the camp. Meek risks his own survival when he gives Mountain Lamb the coat off his back and tells her to race ahead to the camp. An unspoken bond develops between Meek and Mountain Lamb and following his friend’s untimely death from the effects of an old injury, Meek assumes the role of husband and father. When Mountain Lamb is threatened by a Crow war party, Meek once again risks his life to save her as he rushes headlong to face the warriors alone.