Maggie Fortune, who lives in a boxcar near a railroad line being built through the desert, is cruelly treated by Mike Dyer, her stepfather, and goes to the mining town of Bullfrog, where she encounters Rance Conway, a young derelict addicted to drink. Maggie attempts to get Rance to stop drinking, but he repeatedly falls off the wagon, until finally she shames him into accepting a grubstake from her. Rance goes prospecting and returns just as Mike Dyer arrives in town. Dyer is shot by an unknown assailant, and Rance takes the blame in order to protect Maggie; Maggie also confesses to the crime (to protect Rance), and the puzzled sheriff finally calls Dyer's death a suicide. Having cured himself of drunkenness, Rance, who turns out to be the son of wealthy parents, asks Maggie to marry him.
—AFI