A scruffy Arabian colt of the mountainous Latin American outback is purchased by North American Tracer Montrose the morning his wife, Constance, angrily packs to leave him. The horse being a gift that Constance cannot check for her flight home, she delays her departure. She names him Ali Zan?and soon encounters a herd of his kin fleeing a highland inferno. Tracer unites equestrian club riders and dirt-roughened cowboys to save the animals. The mismatched bunch form a trail riding club. Meanwhile, the purchase of Napoleon and True Love causes a cramp in Ali Zan's stable space. These older horses are bright and abrasive, strong and fearless, and champion the outback equine during nerve-wracking jumps, turns, and races. Tracer and Constance, rider novices, persist upon the backs of their steeds within the club arena and along the outback abyss, as well. But their horses poorly manage long-pent demands to achieve maddened equine goals. Their competitive spirits turn upon them. They find that neither rider nor trail obstruct them; that their devils must be accosted elsewhere. The youthful Ali Zan interprets this heart-rending tale by which horse and human are ridden, driven, and, sometimes, bound.