The novel, about the life of a Ute Indian young man, was written in 1963 by Hal Borland.

The novel is roughly divided into four parts: Tom Black Bull's youth with his parents who lived "off the reservation" in the wilderness of southern Colorado; Tom's experience as an orphan sent to the reservation school against his will; Tom's "abandonment" of the Indian lifestyle and his success on the rodeo circuit in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma; and finally Tom's return to his roots — reconciling himself with his heritage and his solitary relationship with the land and the wilderness.

It was freely adapted from the novel, updating the action from the start of the 20th century to the present, and cutting out the majority of the original plot, effectively based on only one middle section of the novel.

[1] A Ute Indian youth, Tom Black Bull (Frederic Forrest), leaves the reservation to enter the rodeo life.

He is under the tutelage of Red Dillon (Richard Widmark), a talented man with a drinking problem.