 In 1865, the Macahans are heading west from Virginia to Oregon. Mrs. Kate Macahan is waiting with her children Laura, Jessie and Josh on a farm they have built for her husband and her oldest son Luke to return from the civil war. Luke comes back when he defects from the army with the news that their father is dead. An army officer comes to the farm to arrest Luke but luckily their uncle Zeb, a frontiersman, saves the day. But Luke must leave them and hides among a Simonite community. Zeb also leaves for the mountains to find an old friend who is at war with the Indians. How can the others deal with the Indian war that threatens to break out around the Macahan farm?