In the late 1800s two friends, Hallie Wolcott and Pearl Parsons, decide to leave Whiskey Bend, Colorado to find a better place for women to live. The final straw came when they witnessed their friend Mary being assaulted by her stepbrother and no one stepped forward to help her. One night along the way they are caught in a violent storm and Mary nearly drowns. She is saved by a rancher who brings them back to his home to stay until Mary recovers. The rancher has his own troubles. Attracted to him and grateful, Hallie vows to help him.