After a opening chapter at a race course in Windsor, Ontario, in 1920, this novel is a fictionalized biography of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three stallions who started the thoroughbred breed. Its human hero is the mute horseboy Agba who is present at the birth of the foal in the Sultan's stable in Morocco and names him Sham (Sun). He is chosen to go with the horse as part of a gift to the King of France. The spirited horse suffers many misfortunes and survives only through Agba's faithfulness, but comes at last to glory through the achievements of his sons.