Having lived through three wars and fought in two of them, elderly widower Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd has settled into a life of enjoying the road and bringing the "news of the world" to people across the south after the Civil War. When in Wichita Falls, Kidd is asked to ferry a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio, Texas, 400 miles away. The orphan is Johanna Leonberger, a girl captured by Kiowa raiders who can no longer speak English and likes living like an Indian. In the course of their long journey, this unlikely pair become each other's only source for redemption.