The film tells the story of a pair of lovers on the American Western frontier in the 1860s. Vivian Le Coodie is a fiercely independent woman who begins a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen. After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to move with him to his home near Elk Flats, Nevada, where they begin a life together. When the Civil War breaks out, Olsen decides to fight for the Union Army, and the two separate. This leaves Vivian on her own, controlled by the corrupt mayor Rudolf Schiller and his unscrupulous business partner, the powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries. Moreover, Alfred's son Weston, who is irritable and unruly, pursues Vivian relentlessly, while Vivian firmly resists his unruly pursuit. After the war, Olsen returns, and he and Vivian must face and accept what each other has become.