Retired Captain Sam Elder and ten boys join the wagon train on their way to California. The boys are orphans of soldiers that fought and died under Elder in the war. he hopes to open a military academy. Hitching a ride was all he thought he was involving the boys with until he meets one man on the train with a secret resentment.

The story of the women of the wagon train and the unforgiving prairie through which they pass. Who will endure, and who will give up? Who will live, and who will die?