When Bacon leads four boys on a challenging outing in the Sierras, he is determined to teach his charges courage, comradery, and survival, but his relentless, demanding routine pushes the boys to their physical and emotional limit. The boys discover they are as unprepared for the rigors of roughing it as they are for Bacon's unpredictable, volatile nature. Most affected is soft-spoken, intellectual Astin, who soon finds himself fighting for his life as he learns that it's one thing to survive the wild, but quite another to survive one's Guide.