The Cowboys

In 1877 Montana, aging rancher Wil Andersen needs replacement drovers for a 400-mile (640 km) cattle drive after his ranch hands depart for the gold rush. Andersen rides to Bozeman to hire more hands, but most men there also have left. Andersen's friend Anse Peterson suggests hiring local schoolboys, though Andersen is skeptical they could handle the job.
The next morning, the boys arrive at Andersen's ranch to volunteer for the drive. Andersen then assesses their horseback riding ability. The eldest boy, Cimarron, gets into a fight with Slim, the next-oldest. Andersen hires the boys, though he fires Cimarron after the young man pulls a knife on Slim during another fight.
Andersen locks up the boys' guns in a box to be kept on the chuckwagon during the drive. While the boys practice roping, branding, and herding livestock, a suspicious band of men arrives asking for work. Andersen catches their leader Asa Watts in a lie and declines to hire them.
When Jebediah Nightlinger, a black cook, arrives, Andersen's crew is complete. Once on the trail, Andersen notices Cimarron is following the herd. When Slim slips off his horse while crossing a river, Cimarron saves him from drowning. Andersen lets Cimarron join the drive.
Slowly, the boys become good cowhands, impressing Andersen and Nightlinger. When Dan, who wears glasses, is chasing a stray horse, he stumbles upon Watts and his gang, who are cattle rustlers. Watts reveals they have been trailing the herd. He releases Dan, but threatens to slit the boy's throat if he says anything to Andersen.
Dan returns to the herd, though is too terrified to keep watch by himself. Charlie Schwartz agrees to accompany him. When Dan drops his glasses into the ravine where the cattle are resting, Charlie succeeds in retrieving them, but is trampled by the herd. The boys hold a funeral for him before resuming the drive.
When the chuckwagon throws a wheel, Nightlinger and Homer remain behind to make repairs, while the crew moves on. Watts and his gang appear and openly parallel the herd. Andersen sends Weedy to tell Nightlinger to rejoin them as fast as possible. When the rustlers approach, Andersen tells the boys not to resist. Dan tells Andersen about Watts following them, but he was too scared to tell; Andersen comforts him.
Watts and his gang surround the camp. They deliver a battered Weedy, and Watts forces Andersen to surrender his gun. Andersen challenges Watts when he taunts Dan and crushes his glasses. A fistfight ensues between Andersen and Watts, with Andersen prevailing. As he walks away, Watts shoots Andersen, mortally wounding him. The boys remain passive, as instructed, as the rustlers steal the herd.
Nightlinger and Homer reach the group the next morning and find the boys tending Andersen, who is near death. Andersen instructs Nightlinger to take the boys home, and in his final moments, he says how proud he is of them.
After burying Andersen, the boys seize the firearms stored in the chuckwagon, intending to avenge Andersen's death. When they catch up to the rustlers, Nightlinger helps to form a plan. The boys silently kill three outlaws. Nightlinger draws out Watts and the remaining gang into an ambush. Riding in among stampeding horses, the boys kill everyone except Watts, who is pinned under a fallen horse. Watts' leg is broken and his foot is entangled in a rope. Dan cuts the reins so the horse can get up, and Cimarron spooks it, dragging Watts to death.
Once the drive reaches Belle Fourche, South Dakota, the boys sell the cattle and hire a stonemason to carve a gravestone with Andersen's name and the inscription, "Beloved Husband and Father", honoring Andersen's paternal role in their lives. The marker is placed in the approximate location of Andersen's grave. The boys head home, accompanied by Nightlinger.