Davey is an innocent young man. He has known hardship, but he is utterly unacquainted with the part of society to which Uncle Eph introduces him.

His mother's recent death has left him with some unresolved questions. He particularly wonders who his mother seemed to see when she stared at him but did not seem to see him. The only one of her relatives that he is familiar with is Uncle Eph; why her other relatives never visited her is a mystery.

While dealing with the details attendant on his wife Mary's death, Davey'sfather Will carelessly drops a remark about the Navajos having to sell some of their horses. Uncle Eph is inspired by this remark, and Geronimo's Ponies begins with his underhanded, illegal rigging of bidding on the horses so that he and his competing bidders can each get the horses he wants...