The first volume follows the three Bone cousins as they meet the inhabitants of a mysterious valley and seek their help in finding the way back to their home in Boneville.

The three Bone cousins, Fone, Phoney and Smiley, are lost in the desert after being run out of their hometown of Boneville.

Fone Bone escapes, but falls off a cliff; climbs the other side; and finds a trail of Smiley's cigars that lead into a nearby mountain range.

Fone Bone has nearly built a winter house when his neighbor Miz Possum leaves her three sons in his care.

Once re-assured of the opossums' safety, Fone discovers a hot spring, and becomes enamored of a young woman he encounters there.

The day before the Spring Fair at the nearby town, Fone and Phoney are helping out at Thorn and Ben's farmstead.