Chapters 1-5

 

A 62-year-old man named Billy Coleman helped a redbone coonhound after it was attacked by a pack of dogs in the city. This brings on a flashback from his childhood during the Great Depression, when he was a 10-year-old boy suffering from puppy love. He spent two years picking berries, selling animal skins, worms, minnows, and corn to fishermen and hunters to raise $50 to buy his own two coonhounds.  When the dogs were delivered to the depot in town, about 23 miles away, Billy walks barefoot to pick up his dogs. In town he buys gifts for his family and sees a schoolhouse for the very first time.  But he is also bullied by the kids in town who think he is a hillbilly.  The marshal rescues him and sends him on his way back home to the Ozark mountains after sharing his very first strawberry pop. During the trip home,  he and his pups spend the night in a cave where he is cornered by a mountain lion.