Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860's. A yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, and Travis reluctantly adopts the dog. After a series of scrapes involving racoons, snakes, bears, wild hogs and wolves, Travis grows to love and respect Old Yeller, who comes to have a profound effect on the boy's life.