The Perez family is run out of town because people believe their daughter Juana is a witch. The family joins the wagon train, and after Juana's brother Felipe is mauled by a cat, the old world is pitted against the new world of medicine.

Samuel MacIntosh picks Hamish Browne to marry his daughter Heather before the two have met. Heather is a naive young girl who thinks she can talk to animals, while Hamish is a backwoods boy who cares for his livestock more than for women.