The Horse Whisperer

The book centers on a riding accident and its aftermath. The book starts in upstate New York where friends Grace and Judith go riding on their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver, on a snowy morning. As they ride up an icy slope, Gulliver slips and hits Pilgrim. Both horses fall, dragging the girls onto a road and into a collision with a truck. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are severely injured. Grace, left with a partially amputated right leg, is bitter and withdrawn. Grace’s mother, Annie, is a workaholic magazine editor, and her father, Robert, a lawyer. The different approaches taken by each of Grace’s parent in dealing with the accident strain relationships within the family.

Following the accident, Pilgrim is traumatized and uncontrollable, leading the people looking after him to treat him badly and to suggest that he be put down. Annie refuses to allow her horse to be put down and hears of a ‘horse whisperer’, Tom Booker. She undertakes a long cross country journey with Pilgrim and Grace to Montana.