When Billy applies to the Pony Express, he doesn’t expect superintendent Mr. Slade to hire him as a farmhand for some remote relay station called Mud Springs. Amos, the station manager, is none too pleased either. Instead of a strong, full-grown farmhand, he’s sent a twelve-year-old boy.

As soon as he arrives at Mud Springs station, Billy realizes he’s in for a challenge. Situated miles from anywhere, surrounded by vast stretches of bleak, dangerous land, the station is nothing more than a stable and a cramped soddy, managed by a grumpy man named Amos who can’t seem to keep his hired help.

From the start, tempers flare as Amos and Billy clash. While Amos is determined to prove that Billy is too young for the job, Billy sets out to show that he can do the job as well as any man and, hopefully, prove to Mr. Slade he has what it takes to be a Pony Express rider.

But life in such an isolated land is full of dangers. Amos and Billy soon discover they have bigger enemies than each other and need to join forces to save the station, the valuable horses, even their own lives.

Orphans Preferred is the remarkable and fast-moving story of a twelve-year-old boy who learns the meaning of bravery and perseverance, and discovers true friendship in the most unlikely place.