Synopsis

Henry, Earl of Kerhill has inherited his family's title and wealth while his cousin James Wingate is forced to survive as a relatively low-ranking military officer. Wingate is in love with Henry's wife Lady Diana Kerhill, but his love is unfulfilled despite a mutual affection between them. When Henry embezzles the regiment's charitable fund, Wingate takes the blame in order to protect his family's name and to avoid implicating Lady Diana in the scandal. Wingate migrates to the United States and takes over the ownership of a a ranch in Montana. Wingate starts a feud with the local bootlegger Cash Hawkins over a land dispute, and he also has to face a corrupt sheriff working for Hawkins. The Native American woman Naturich (who is in love with Wingate) saves Wingate's life twice and personally kills Hawkins. Wingate marries Naturich and has a son with her. A few years later, Henry is mortally wounded in a hunting accident. He clears Wingate's name with a deathbed confession of his old crime. Lady Diana and her friend Sir John Applegate track down Wingate to Montana and inform him that he can safely return to the United Kingdom. Wingate decides to send his son to England, where he can attend the finest schools and eventually inherit the earldom. Naturich is miserable that her son is taken from her against her wishes, and shortly after learns that the sheriff finally has enough evidence to arrest her for Hawkins' murder. She commits suicide while holding a hand-crafted wooden horse which she had created for her beloved son. The story ends with Wingate holding his wife's body in her final moments.