During the Civil War, in Missouri, while preparing a caravan en route to California, frontier scouts Bill Jackson and Jim Bridger connive the drunken town marshal to release fellow scout Clint Belmet by coercing Felice, an orphan French girl, to pose as his bride. That night, as the caravan camps, the pioneers perform a ritual of chivalry on the "newlyweds" and Clint tries to coerce Felice into consummating the "marriage," but she rebuffs him. Next the caravan comes upon a stagecoach that has recently been ambushed and learns that the U.S. Cavalry has deserted its posts on the plains to join General Grant's army, leaving travellers unprotected. Despite the constant Indian menace, the settlers reach the Rocky Mountains, where the scouts find a deer killed with an arrow and begin to suspect Lee Murdock, the only survivor of an earlier Indian massacre, of siding with the Indians. Meanwhile, Felice falls in love with Clint, but her talk of home and marriage sends him into the woods alone, insisting he will always be a scout. There Clint spies Murdock conspiring with the Indians and, when Jim and Bill advise him to settle down because the railroad will make scouts obsolete, he confesses his love for Felice. As the three head back to camp, they hear Indians approaching and run to warn the settlers, who have begun crossing the river. As women load guns, each family works to defend itself, while Jim and Bill compete to see who can kill the most Indians. When Murdock shoots Jim, Bill kills Murdock before dying himself from an arrow. Clint then ignites the kerosene wagon in the middle of the river and the Indians retreat. The caravan safely arrives in California and Clint and Felice marry.