Silent since losing his hearing to meningitis, young Toby Wyler takes a bitter stance against the world and his family, refusing to accept his new stepfather. But when a highly trained orangutan named Casey is thrown from a truck near Toby's home, the boy soon has a secret friend he can communicate with via sign language.

A debt-ridden divorced mother and factory worker strives to get a higher-paying job on the traditionally all-male main assembly line.

Set in Montana in the year 1934, a half-breed rancher and his wife are harassed by a ruthless land robber, who forces them to stand tall and defend their land, life and dignity.