“Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann – a Boy and His Two Dogs… A loving threesome, they ranged the dark hills and river bottoms of the Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn, Little Ann had the brains – and Billy had the will to train them to be the finest hunting team in the valley. Glory and victory were coming to them, but sadness waited too. And close by was the strange and wonderfully power that’s only found… WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS”


Synopsis
Young Billy Coleman (Joseph Ashton) lives in the Ozarks with his dirt-poor family during the Great Depression. For him, this is an idyllic place to be, but for his mother Jenny (Renee Faia), the beautiful mountain and rivers hardly compensate for electricity, indoor plumbing and the cultural advantages that a big city like Tulsa has to offer. Billy’s father Will (Dave Matthews) is doing all he can just to keep his family clothed and fed, but he is heartbroken that he can’t afford what his boy wants most in the world, hunting dogs. The problem is, they cost fifty dollars and at that price, they might as well cost a million dollars.

Upon expressing his plight to his Grandpa (Dabney Coleman), Billy exclaims, “I’ been prayin’ for dogs as log as I can remember and nothin’ ever happens.” Grandpa responds, “If God was ‘a mind to, he could get you hounds as slick as cuttin’ lard… but that wouldn’t do anything for your character…” Billy is impetuous; “I don’t want character… I want dogs!”

Grandpa explains to Billy that if he wants hounds bad enough, he’ll find a way to get them. Grandpa’s words are strong and almost cryptic to Billy, but as he ponders them, Billy finally figures out what his Grandpa means, that God’s part is to give him the heart and the inspiration and that it’s his part to do the work.

So for the next two years he scrapes and saves. He makes himself available for any kind of odd job he can find, including cleaning hog pens, shocking grain, chopping wood and selling worms, crawdads and minnows to the fishermen. Slowly but miraculously, the clinking of the coins add up to fifty dollars in his old Baking Powder can… just enough to buy two hound pups who will be dubbed Old Dan and Little Ann.

And so the adventure begins…