15-year-old orphan Biarn Turner (De Wilde) struggles to survive in the rural South in the 1910's. He arrives in a small town where crusty small-town newspaper editor Doyle Magee (Merrill) decides to take the boy in and give him a chance at a regular life. Wealthy local farmer Tobias Brown (Marvin) also takes an interest in Biarn's future, but treats the young man cruelly, masking Tobias' real hidden feelings of affection and genuine concern. Biarn also proves his worth by training racehorses for the climactic annual horse race.