Fourteen-year-old Billy Joe is suspicious the city buyers are cheating his people, the uneducated hill folks from Bear Claw Valley in Virginia.

Mr. Grant from Three Pines Mercantile has been teaching Billy Joe some as he works for him. But most of the hill folks are against schooling, fearing the change it will bring to the valley.

The long-standing feud between the O'Conners and the McKinleys is strong. But when Billy Joe proves the dog buyers are cheating both his pa, an O'Conner, and the McKinleys, Billy Joe is caught in the middle.

When Uncle Ephraim O'Conner "accidently" steals a hog from hotheaded Jeb McKinley, Billy Joe fears his search for an education is doomed, as the feelings escalate all around.