Seventeen-year-old Samuel Bolt and and his paleontologist father search the Badlands for the skeleton of the "rex," a massive dinosaur. But Samuel and his father aren't the only ones after the rex--so are Rachel Cartland and her professor father. As their paths cross and the rivalry between their fathers becomes more intense, Samuel and Rachel must make a decision. Can they join forces to find their quarry, and with it a new life together, or will old enmities and prejudices keep them from both the rex and each other?