My Side of the Mountain parle d'un adolescent nommé Sam Gribley. Fatigué de la vie citadine dans un appartement surpeuplé, Sam décide de retrouver le terrain familial à la montagne et de vivre seul. L'aventure de Sam en est une de courage, de survie et d'indépendance.
One of Sam's traits is that he is very intelligent. One example of this is when he reads all about falcons and learns how to train Frightful. Training a wild bird is not an easy thing to do!
Sam is also very courageous. He decided he wanted to try living in the woods on his own. Even though he had no idea exactly what to expect, he did it anyway.
Sam used all of the resources around him in order to survive in the wilderness. One example is when he made salty flavoring by boiling hickory sticks.