A fictionalized account of the real-life adventure of the Sager family. Travelling with a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon, things are going well for the Sagers, until father Sager dies from blood poisoning following an Indian attack, and mother Sager dies soon afterward from pneumonia. The leaders of the wagon train decide to send the children back, but the oldest, John (who had been described by all the adults as lazy and worthless), decides to lead his siblings through the wilderness to complete the journey their parents started.

Based on the true story of the Sager family who left their home in Missouri in 1843 and set off across the country on the Oregon trail to make a new home out west. During the trip, the parents died and their seven, newly-orpahned children continued the journey on their own.