"The White Dragon" by Anne McCaffrey is the final book in "The Dragonriders of Pern" trilogy. This book focuses mainly on Jaxom and his white dragon, Ruth, and the struggles they face. Young Jaxom will have to figure out whether he will become the Lord of Ruatha Hold or a dragonrider of Pern.

The story begins with Jaxom and the description we get of Ruth. Ruth is the only white dragon there is, and he is also much smaller than the other dragons. Jaxom feels conflicted about the fact that he is too young to be Holder of Ruatha but also unable to fly with the other dragonriders because it is too dangerous for the only heir to Ruatha to be in battle against the Thread that fall from the sky.

Jaxom becomes determined to teach Ruth to flame and fight Thread in secret which eventually earns him the right to train with the other young dragonriders. While attending a matting flight of a green dragon, the queen dragon's egg is stolen. It is known that it must be someone from the Oldtimers, Dragonriders from the past that have been banished to a Southern Hold and hate most of Benden's riders. It is dangerous to fly through time, but Jaxom does just that and is able to return the egg to the queen dragon. The egg is unharmed and Jaxom is able to stop what would have become a battle between the two sets of dragons. Jaxom remains quiet about what he has done in the hopes that Lessa, rider of the queen dragon and leader of Benden, will believe that one of the Oldtimers returned the egg in a quest for peace.

Jaxom goes to a cove on the Southern Continent with Ruth. There Jaxom becomes sick, and Ruth has to get help for Jaxom. Jaxom falls in love with one of his nurses named Sharra. Jaxom is joined by Robinton, and many others while they begin looking into the disappearance of the ancients from the Southern Continent. While they are unable to find all the answers they are looking for, they do discover the space ships that the ancients arrived in as well as detailed maps of Pern including the Southern Continent.

Jaxom continues to mature and finally gets to the point that he is able to take on the full responsibilities of Lord Holder of Ruatha and is able to perform many of the duties of dragonrider as well. There are many things in the story left unanswered to Jaxom and the others of Pern, but there is a determination to continue with their tries to stop the Thread and make Pern Thread free.