In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line. Logan Stuart (Dana Andrews) agrees to escort Lucy Overmire (Susan Hayward) from Portland to the rough-hewn mining settlement of Jacksonville, along with his latest shipment of goods, but their journey takes an unexpected turn as they become attracted to each other and are drawn into a complex web of love triangles and betrayal. As tensions rise, Logan must confront his friend George Camrose's (Brian Donlevy) secrets and the dangers that come with living in the Oregon Territory during the mid-1850s.