Jim Clayton, a prospector, strikes gold, stakes out his claim, and starts for the nearest town, some miles away, to file the property. Overtaken by night, he stops at the shack of Sam Dunn, a surly old squatter, and asks for shelter. During the course of the evening, Jim discovers that Dunn is brutal toward his widowed daughter and her little girl, and resolves to aid her if he can. Dunn and his son now give up their bed to Jim and leave the shack, supposedly to sleep in the barn. Late that night Anna, Dunn's daughter, overhears her father and brother plotting to rob Clayton. She sends her little girl down to warn the prospector, and, when the plotters enter, Jim wounds the son in the arm and is struggling furiously with the old squatter when Anna enters, rescues Jim at gun's point and, with her little girl, rides away with the young prospector to town. Jim now marries Anna, in order to protect her for life, and next morning they ride back to the shack. Old Dunn is persuaded to give his blessing, then Jim offers him a partnership in the mine. Thus matters are happily adjusted.
—Moving Picture World synopsis