Jess would really like to spend his summer working in the mountains. He doesn't mind cleaning the park campgrounds. He doesn't even mind cleaning the toilets. But then the trail crew needs another member. When Jess gets a chance to trade his toilet brush for a shotgun, he takes it.
Jess likes the idea of working with his cousin Bill, who is always fun. And the black haired, blue-eyed Abby, who seems to have a strange effect on Jess. And Old Joe, who tells the best bear stories. Little does Jess know that by summer's end, he will play a part in one of Old Joe's scariest bear stories.