Cardelanche, the son of an Indian chief, has been educated in the East, and he returns to his reservation and encounters the hostility of his people, who believe that he has turned his back on his own race. When Cardelanche saves a detachment of cavalry from a gang of renegade Indians, he is made a captain in the United States Army. He falls in love with Miriam, the daughter of the commandant of Fort Remington, further cutting himself off from his own people. Lieutenant Parkman, who is also in love with Miriam, is demoted to the ranks when he gets into a fight over the girl. Cardelanche's tribe goes on the warpath and slaughters the troops of General Custer. Cardelanche then decides that his true allegiance lies with his own people, and he gives up both Miriam and his commission, returning to the hills where his ancestors once lived and fought.