June Dew, a pretty Indian maiden, is betrothed to Red Hawk, the bravest warrior of the tribe. Seated Bear, another brave, also loves the dark beauty and his savage heart is inflamed with jealousy at the success of his rival. One day he surprises her alone and forcibly carries her off to his canoe. Red Hawk appears just in time to see the act, and springing into the stream soon overtakes his rival. A desperate struggle follows in which Red Hawk's arm, strengthened by the "Great Spirit," mortally wounds his treacherous enemy. Red Hawk and the maiden return to the village and the wounded Indian painfully makes his way to shore, where he tells a greatly distorted story of Red Hawk's crime. The accused warrior is ordered before the great chief White Eagle, and the death sentence imposed: "He that kills a brother must die. Twelve moons hence his spirit shall join that of the dead warrior." Red Hawk's heart is filled with bitterness and he leaves his tribe to join the army of the pale faces. His bravery in surmounting indescribable difficulties to destroy a mountain bridge, thus checking the advance of the enemy, gains him the high regard of the army, but his happiness is short lived as he remembers the sentence and returns to his tribe to pay the debt of a red man's honor. With his beloved June Dew he is taken to the funeral pyre and their souls go forth to join the Happy Hunting Ground of the "Great Spirit."