Fourteen-year-old John comes of age and gains self-reliance during the summer he spends up in the Wyoming mountains tending his father's herd of sheep.

Justin McCallister loves life on his aunt and uncle's Montana sheep ranch...until a grizzly bear begins terrorizing the livestock, injuring Justin's collie, Radar, and killing his pet lamb, Blue. Justin decides to take matters into his own hands and sets out to track down the bear. But things become more dangerous than Justin ever could have imagined when he comes face-to-face with the grizzly.

Black sheep graciously offers bag after bag of wool to a young girl, who handcrafts mittens, a tea cosy, and more for her friends, then produces a sweater for the shivering sheep when all the wool is gone.