Thirteen-year-old Thomas Hunter dreams of the cowboy life on the prairie. When he finally makes the long train ride from Virginia to Kansas to rejoin his father, Thomas discovers a hardscrabble existence of farming and plates licked clean. One day, a sudden cattle stampede finally gives hiim the opportunity to "go cowboy." Can Thomas prove his mettle and find solace in this harsh land?

Grasslands received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Juvenile Fiction in 2003 and the nomination for the William Allen White Award in 2004. Thomas Hunter's story continues in The Last of the Roundup Boys.