Marshall "Big Jim" Cole turns in his badge and heads to Wyoming with his family in order to settle on some land left him by a relative. He faces opposition both from a neighbor who wants that land for his own sons, and from a grizzly bear nicknamed "Satan" who keeps killing Cole's livestock.
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
Separated from a wagon train, Mr. Parish and the children are attaced by armed men, forcing young Anna and Jamie to flee into the wilderness with their father's fate unknown. They don't realize they carry a secret treasure map, but with gold-hunting George and Buzz in pursuit and wild-eyed mountain man McTavish on the loose, there's plenty to fear. Yet help comes from the unlikeliest of places, including a ferocious wolf pack, the majestic wild eagle, Balderdash, and even a maternal grizzly, which they name after their friend Mrs. Mullen.