In March, 1855, Fiona Webb ran from her home with her eight-year-old nephew, Joey, after her brother and sister-in-law are murdered. They are trying to escape a brutal neighbor, Luther Markin, who plans to make a slave of Joey and use Fiona for his own evil purposes. To get on a wagon train heading for Oregon they join Clint Larson and his pregnant wife, Rose as extended family. It doesn't take Fiona long to realize she's attracted to Clint despite her feelings of sisterly love for Rose. To complicate things, Luther Markin teams up with Rose's father, Wade Fillmore and his business partner, Leo Carver from Baltimore and they follow the wagon train. Fillmore wants to take Rose away from Larson and force her to go back east, but Carver has his own depraved reason for wanting to find Rose.