The year is 1959 when the dream to be a cowboy was in every boy's heart. Monte and Leroy are two small-town, neglected 8-year-olds. They sneak into an abandoned shack and find real guns, and plot their get-away. Monte tells his mother of his plans to go live in the mountains and be a cowboy, but she ignores him. So, off the boys go on a adventuresome day, narrowly cheating death several times. They hook up with a double crossing cowboy, are rescued by an imposing Indian, escape from the sheriff, and are accountable for the death of a rabbit. Monte makes it back home and tells his mother of his adventures, but she dismisses it as the fantasies of a boy and tells him goodnight.