Willie Proudfit lies on his front porch and talks to his nephew and family about his younger days on the plains and his interactions with Native people there. He soon begins to tell the story of his Pappy and their travels to Arkansas to avoid getting involved in the Civil War. Willie's Pappy receives word from a cousin in North Arkansas that the land there is free and for the taking. Pappy's mind is unsettled about which side to take in the war, so he sells his land and most of his belongings, and the family heads to Arkansas. They live there in a home with everything they need for many years.

When Willie turns sixteen, he tells his Pappy he plans to leave Arkansas for Kansas, and Pappy provides him with a horse, a saddle, and fifty dollars worth of gold. In Hays City, Kansas, Willie meets a bald-headed man named Mingo Smith, who fought in the war and has lots of experience working on the plains in various jobs. They build a friendship and become business partners, shooting buffalo on the Kansas plains.

So many buffalo are shot during that time that eventually, there are no more buffalo in Kansas. Mingo suggests going down into the land belonging to Native Americans, but Willie says it will be dangerous. Mingo makes light of it and says he has fought and killed Indians when working on the railroad and that he isn't afraid. The two set out with two hired hands, a Black man and an Irish man, to skin and cook the buffalo Mingo and Willie shoot.

While on Native land, Willie witnesses an Indian chief, Kicken Bird, banishing a younger chief to keep peace with the white men. Mingo continues hunting buffalo in that land, but Willie decides to leave, retreating into the wilderness where he lives alongside the Native people, otherwise alone in the woods.

Willie comes down with a sickness in the woods and feels as if he may die. The Native people have taken him in as their own at this point, and they help care for Willie with herbs and different healing methods. Nothing cures him until one day, he drinks from the cool water in a stream. After this near-death experience, Willie decides to go back to Arkansas to see if his family is still there. His parents are dead, and he doesn't know where his brothers have gone. He walks into the land, finds a stream, and drinks from it as he did when he was sick. When he looks back up, his wife Adelle is there, completing his journey home.