Based on the critically acclaimed, Governor General Award-winning novel, The Englishman’s Boy features a young screenwriter, Harry Vincent, newly arrived to 1920's Hollywood from the prairies. The famed studio boss, Damon Ira Chance, enlists him to find the elusive old-time western actor, Shorty McAdoo.

Chance wants to make the big film about the American West, and McAdoo will provide the authentic content he seeks. In counterpoint is the parallel story of a young drifter, known simply as the “Englishman’s Boy.”

In May 1873 the Englishman’s Boy joins a group of wolf hunters on the trail of horse thieves. It is a journey which climaxes in a brutal encounter with the Assiniboine Indians in the Cypress Hills.

Harry finally locates McAdoo and uncovers a story which will become the basis for Chance’s film. But the story also leads to disturbing revelations about the darker side of the studio owner’s ambition.