Pete is a wanderer of the desert who has born looking for gold for many years, but who has never been successful. One day ho sees a man dying of thirst. He gives the crazed fellow some water and takes him to his camp, Here they agree to go partners on the claim. Years before Pete had been the proud possessor of a home and family and a friend. But the friend had stolen into the home and had taken his wife's love. So Pete had left and gone to live on the desert. It so happened the young man Pete rescued was his son, as he discovered by a picture of his mother that the lad had in his pocket. But Pete does not reveal his identity. At the edge of the desert lived Tom and his daughter Helen, who make a living by selling supplies. One day Roy comes to buy some bread just as the girl is being attacked by a half-breed. He saves her; after this a love grows between them. A few nights later the half-breed comes to wreak his vengeance on Roy. Pete sees him, but does not shoot quite quick enough and the half-breed succeeds in knifing Roy. The boy is taken to the hut of Tom and there he hovers between life and death for weeks. Continually he calls for his mother and at last Pete realizes that the only way to save the boy is to send for the mother. When the mother arrives Pete cannot stand the pain of a meeting, so he departs to the desert to live out his life in wandering penance and solitude.