During a violent disagreement, a miner strangles his partner and accidently shoots the man's wife. He then deserts his own wife and son to elope with the saloon keeper's daughter. As they are fleeing, the girl discovers the deed and insists upon caring for the baby found in the dead wife's arms. Seventeen years later, the miner, now known as Joe Lawson, owns the Nugget, a dance hall in the lumber country, and the baby has grown into Marta, a beautiful young girl. While in the fields one day, Marta meets young lumberjack Mac Jepson, who is attracted to the girl until he sees her with the gamblers in the saloon. When Lawson's former partner appears at the Nugget, Lawson arranges to have his manager kill him, but the man is saved by Mac. A shootout between the ex-partners then transpires, in which Lawson is mortally wounded. On his deathbed, he learns that Mac is actually his son, and goes to his death requesting that the lumberjack, who is now betrothed to Marta, never be told the truth.