SYNOPSIS:

The year is 1918. The Great War is ending, the lethal Spanish Flu epidemic is coming to a close. America is brittle, beaten but set to grow into a new era of prosperity. In the harsh badlands of Montana, immigrant homesteaders scratch a living from the dust under the thumb of government officials amidst the seeds of organized crime. Life is hard, the future uncertain, and no one knows it better than thirteen year old Eliando Barone. A boy on the cusp of manhood, Eli wants nothing more than to earn the respect of his abusive, Italian immigrant homesteader father. Desperate for a chance to prove himself, his opportunity comes when on the eve of the semi-annual trip to sell their harvested grain in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, his father is badly injured and bed-ridden, leaving only Eli to make the interstate trek alone. Setting out with nothing but a rifle and his wits to protect him, the adolescent must cart his precious cargo through perilous wilds filled with dangerous people to deliver the grain and bring back the money his family needs to survive. But as the trials of the journey force Eli to face his fears and discover what it means to be a man, he finds that the biggest danger of all is the monster waiting for his return back home.