In an early California settlement, Juanita, a dance hall queen of Castilian ancestry, knifes her lover, Jim Brandt, the dance hall owner, when she catches him embracing a new dancer. She hides in the cabin of hermit trapper Calvert and falls in love with him, but Calvert loves the parson's daughter Irene. After Juanita proves to Calvert that Irene and Sheriff Tanner are about to be engaged, Calvert reproaches Irene. Insulted, she tells Brandt where Juanita is, and tells Tanner that Calvert attacked her. Tanner rides to Calvert's cabin with a posse just after Calvert has knocked Brandt out. While Juanita holds the posse back with a rifle, Tanner fights a knife duel with Calvert until he discovers from Calvert's locket that Calvert is really his son. Because of her crime, Juanita is taken to Mexico, where Calvert, now in love, joins her.
—AFI