The death of old Ned, the Morrison family's dependable work horse, sets three Morrison teenagers off on a quest from Sugar Branch, Indiana, to Rushford, New York, in 1840 to secure horses promised to their father. In the novel Sugar Branch , the author, Don Morrison, chronicles the saga of these young siblings as they are beset with obstacles of hunger, attacks by frontier ruffians, capture by Indians and a steamboat accident. He creates a panorama of the American frontier, bestowing on his characters heroic traits of courage and love in the face of hardships. Sugar Branch is epic in scope. It reminds the reader of two other fine quest novels: Deliverance and Cold Mountain .