Puritanical Abel Blake is planning to marry the domestically oriented Joan when she is called away to a neighboring fishing village to care for her sick uncle. In her absence, Abel falls under the corrupting influence of some friends who take him to Ryan's, a notorious dance hall, where he meets seductress Glory Prada. Glory determines to make a conquest of Abel, who gradually falls under her spell and finally marries her. After learning of the news, Abel's mother dies of grief and Joan marries Dave, a fisherman.

Montana Rivers finally escapes her father who had forced her to wear men's clothing and help in robbing and cheating. She is taken in by friendly Indians and stays at their camp. Later, Akkomi, chief of the tribe, asks his friend Dan Overton to take the girl as it is not good for her to remain in the camp. Dan provides for "Tana" and falls in love with her but, because of her past, she keeps him at a distance. Jim Harris comes by and recognizes Tana as the boy robber, but when he attempts to blacken her past, Dan gives him a beating which paralyzes him. Jim then stays on with Dan, who regrets his hastiness. Eventually Tana's father appears and demands that Tana go away with him. She refuses but also does not tell Dan of this trouble.

Outlaw Sam Hemp attempts to induce homesteader Lang Rush, faced with foreclosure due to drought, to rob the bank as restitution. The exchange escalates into a gunfight leaving Sam and his wealthy friend, Drayton, dead. Fleeing to the mountains and the refuge of a deserted shack near Singing River Lang prospects for silver. Another former homesteader, Bert Condon, trails Lang in the hope of collecting a $5,000 reward, but befriends the fugitive and assists in filing Lang's claim when he strikes ore. On his return to town, Lang rescues the sheriff's daughter, Alice Thornton, from Hemp's gang and defeats their leader, L. W. Bransom, in a fistfight. He then clears himself of the murder charge and wins Alice.

When Barton Baynes's mother and father die, his Aunt Deel and Uncle Peabody provide a home for him. He grows up with Amos Grimshaw, son of a miserly moneylender who holds the farmers of the area in his power, and falls in love with Sally Dunkelberg.