Outlaw Hawk Parsons escapes from jail and encounters an emigrant wagon train lost in the wilderness. He lusts after Ruth Ingram, wife of the preacher on his way to minister to the mining camps. In return for saving the lost travellers, Hawk forces Ruth to go away with him, to which she consents. But when she tries suicide rather than stay with him, Hawk, who has learned to love the girl, decides to return her to her people, even if it means he will be caught.