Where the Red Fern Grows is a 2003 American family adventure film directed by Lyman Dayton and Sam Pillsbury and starring Joseph Ashton, Dave Matthews, Ned Beatty and Dabney Coleman. Based on the children's book of the same name by Wilson Rawls and a remake of the 1974 film of the same name, it follows the story of Billy Colman who buys and trains two Redbone Coonhound hunting dogs to hunt raccoons in the Ozark mountains. Plot A senior-aged Billy Coleman rescues a beagle from stray dogs. He takes care of it, having a flashback to when he was a ten-year-old boy living in the Ozark mountains with his parents and two younger sisters. Billy wants a pair of hunting dogs, but his parents cannot afford them. Billy tells his Grandpa that he believes that God does not want him to have dogs. His grandfather replies that he has to meet God halfway. After coming across an article in a sportsman magazine offering a pair of Redbone coonhounds, he earns the money himself by working for two years. He reveals the money to his Grandpa, having kept it a secret from his family, fearing his father would use it for a long-needed mule. Inspired by Billy's hard work, Grandpa promises him his hounds. Weeks later, Billy learns that the dogs were delivered to Tahlequah, not to Grandpa's store. Grandpa assures Billy that he can get a ride in a week. Billy's impatience and concern for his pups' wellbeing drive him to sneak out the following night to walk to Tahlequah. He reaches Tahlequah the following morning and gets his pups from the depot station. When Billy returns home the next day, everyone is thrilled with his new dogs, whom Billy has named Old Dan and Little Ann. Billy trains the pups to be hunting dogs. On his first night hunt, they chase a raccoon up a large sycamore. Though he is discouraged, he promises to cut the tree down. It takes him over a day, and he runs out of strength before finishing the job. After asking God for help, wind blows the tree down, allowing the dogs to finish the hunt. Billy and his dogs become a hunting legend in the Ozarks, bringing in countless coon hides. While at his Grandpa's store, his rivals - Rubin and Rainie Pritchard - challenge him to a bet to hunt and chase