A rough California gold camp seems an unlikely place for two lonely people running from their pasts to meet. But when Sam Ransom first sees Zenobia Gray taking after a huge, bearded miner with a ladle, then delivering a baby and comforting a bereaved man, he decides that, while she might be a fussy prude, she's worth emulating. When Zenobia Gray first sets eyes on Sam Ransom, she's sure he's absolutely not the man for her, even though he's of great assistance to her.