Explores how the man who became the most famous entertainer of his time and a legend of the "Wild West" grew up amid a violent regional conflict that would soon tear apart the nation.

A note of caution to readers -- Use of terminology in this book -- Prologue, 1894 -- Losing Sam -- On the road to Kansas -- Slavery becomes real -- Billy visits Fort Leavenworth -- Arriving in the promised land -- At home in the valley -- Isaac Cody's bloody trail -- Pro-slave or free state? -- Billy sounds the alarm -- Billy meets the abolitionists -- John Brown's war in Kansas -- Father -- Billy the hero -- Trouble with the Mormons -- Billy and the Indians -- Billy rides the Pony Express -- Bily's volunteer war -- Billy joins the red legs -- Quantrill takes revenge -- Mother -- Private Cody : scout and spy -- A soldier's life -- Becoming Buffalo Bill -- Buffalo Bill's Wild West -- The later life and legacy of the boy from Bleeding Kansas -- More about Buffalo Bill and his times.