Robert Holliday, a member of the North West Mounted Police, is betrothed to Ruth Hardy, an orphaned seminary student. On the eve of her marriage, Ruth learns from John Blakeman that he and her father had been partners in the fur smuggling business until Hardy was killed by Robert during a shootout. Shaken by this revelation, Ruth sends Robert a goodbye note and leaves with Blakeman for a trading post at Sampson's Pass.

Having forced Jim Carson to leave town in order to avoid a trumped-up embezzling charge, now Albert Temple is rid of his only serious rival for Helen, whom he soon marries. Jim goes to Alaska, where he adopts Bob Adams, the son of a murdered friend, and then makes a fortune in a gold strike. After eighteen years in the Yukon, Jim returns to his hometown with Bob, who falls in love with Helen and Albert's daughter Dorothy. Because he so hates Albert, however, Jim refuses to consent to a marriage between Bob and Dorothy until Helen tells him that Albert is not the young woman's father. In reality, Dorothy is Jim's own daughter, and when he learns this, Jim quickly changes his mind about the marriage.