For thirteen-year-old Jessie, living with her family on the dusty Wild Hawk Ranch in Nevada can be a bit lonely. Her friend Marybeth lives a few miles away, but she’s two years younger than Jessie and she can sometimes be a pest.

But Jessie loves the horses her father and brother break in each summer to sell to local ranchers and rodeo competitors. This year, she is determined to help train the horses, especially when she lays eyes on the wild, paint filly she names Storm Chaser. When Jessie’s father tells her she is still too young to help with the horses, she deliberately disobeys him by working with the filly behind his back.

Then a fire destroys the barn and Jessie’s family reluctantly turns their ranch into a vacation dude ranch to earn much-needed money. But Jessie is wary of Ariel, a rude and spoiled city girl who always expects to get her way. When Ariel announces she wants to buy Storm Chaser, Jessie’s already fragile world begins to crack. What can she do to keep “her” beloved paint from being sold?