Tom Chatterton is called a coward because he will not enlist in the Home Guard during the Civil War -- his mother is dying and he does not wish to leave while she is still alive. When she dies and the Yankees attack, he seizes command of the Home Guard and leads them to victory, proving himself a hero and dying in the process.

Old Captain Bill and his wife have an only son, whom they idolize. He loses all his money at gambling and drinking, and determines to do better in the city. After a short absence he writes his people that he has secured a good position, is saving money, and will be home before long. A year or two later he arrives in town and on his way to his home passes the old saloon he used to patronize. He cannot resist the temptation, and goes in. He falls in with a lot of bad fellows and is robbed. Ashamed to go home, he ships on board a sailing vessel.

Sioux leader Chief Gray Otter sends his son Tiah to the white man's school so that he can become a great leader. The son returns home drunk, disappointing his father. Things get worse when the son joins a group of renegades and robs a payroll wagon. The father, observing the clash from a distance, takes a side.

Big Jim Cullison, boss of the Henley logging camp, hires Grace Ivers. She proves very capable, and he comes to value her. Sometime later Jerry Henley, the owner of the camp, arrives on a tour of inspection, accompanied by his secretary, Graves. The latter is an old confidence man, who had once wronged Grace, and he threatens to expose her if she gives his game away. Jim overhears, kicking Graves out of the camp, forcing him to write a note to his employer, saying that he has been called out of town on business. Jim thinks Grace has fallen for Henley and steps aside. But when Henley departs Grace tells Jim she really loves him, and the lovers are united.

Captain Gant is a hard man. The closest he had ever come to having a friend was in the person of his mate, Warren Gillcrest. The captain was hated by his men.

When the Civil War begins, young Billy runs away from home to enlist in the Northern Army as a drummer; he's wounded in battle and taken prisoner. He manages to escape and deliver an important message to his commanding officer, but loses his life in the process. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

A lady bandit steals from gamblers and gives to a poor family with a crippled daughter.

Juan Capella, the son of a poor Spanish tavern keeper, and his wife, learning of the discovery of gold on the American River near Sacramento, runs away from his parents and sweetheart to make his fortune. The tavern keeper is in debt and places a mortgage on the tavern in order to prevent it being seized to pay another debt.

Pierre Vignol, an artist wintering in Arizona, is bitten by a snake. He is taken by his friend, Tom Hornby, to Padre Francisco, who prescribes for the bite. Pierre, at the request of Tom, returns to his cabin and Tom takes care of him. Later Tom discovers a tube in Lost River. This proves to be a painting and Pierre takes it to Padre Francisco. The Padre reads him an interesting history of Fr. Bartolomeo. founder of the Mission, and of how the painting came to be discovered in Lost River, for it had been thrown there by a monk when the Mission was attacked by the Indians, owing to the abduction of the Chief's daughter by a villainous Spaniard. Tom takes the painting to New York where he sells it and gives the money to the wife of Tom, who has been too poor to bring her and the baby to Arizona.

Donna Gonzales has a daughter, Rosa, and a son, Maxim. Maxim is fighting in the Rebel cause, his mother being the widow of a Rebel general. He is pursued while taking important dispatches to the Rebel general, takes refuge in his home, hides himself in a chimney and eludes the Federals. Maxim is badly wounded, and his sister, Rosa, volunteers to carry the dispatches. She departs dressed in her brother's clothes and is captured.