Brandy is a sweet sixteen year-old whose best friend is her beautiful horse, Gray. Suddenly at school she has a new best friend, Dina, an émigré from New York City. Dina is an out lesbian with a style unique to the small ranching town where she has arrived. Brandy's mother, a widowed working woman, is uneasy about Brandy's new friendship although she is relieved when Brandy starts dating an Indian boy, Quinn. Innocent and naive about sex, Brandy becomes frightened after an unsettling encounter and runs away from home. Her mother is distraught, blames Dina, and seeks out Laura and Jerry, owners of the stable where Gray is kept, for help. There she meets Pat, a therapist from San Francisco who has come for a visit. They all join together with Dina and Quinn and become a new kind of "family" as the launch an all out search for Brandy.