A Civil War veteran named Craig Kern has become addicted to morphine after it was used on him during treatment of a war injury. The head of a Kansas veteran's hospital asks the trail boss to take Kern on as a drover so he can reconnect with the world. Kern decides to try and kick his addiction on the trail. The men are trying to stay ahead of a vicious winter storm. As an added complication, Kern's fiancée joins the drive, determined to be with him despite the repeated warning that a cattle drive is "no place for a woman."
—Daren Young