Eireann is the last survivor of her family after the Civil War. The war has been over for almost two years and there has been no word of her fiancé, Callen McKeegan. Anxious, she writes to his family in Montana and is promptly sent the means for her to travel to them. They too have been waiting for news about Callen.

Susan Farr loses her parents and her home in one swoop. She takes her horse and rides to Independence, Missouri, to join a wagon train and start a new life. Mike Todd, the wagon master, doesn’t allow single women to have their own wagons. It causes fights and distractions. Susan solves her problem by marrying Clancy Willis in name only. Unfortunately, Clancy’s true nature doesn’t take long to show, and Susan finds herself married to a drunkard.

Amid the aftermath of the Civil War, Georgie O'Rourke, the last surviving member of her family, decides her only choice is to leave her beloved state of Tennessee by answering a mail-order bride advertisement. With only a few items of rag, like clothing, she travels the Southwest Trail by covered wagon to meet up with her groom in Texas. Captain Parker Eastman, formally of the Confederate Army, travels from his cattle ranch to the Southwest Trail to intercept a woman his mother hired as a companion. He soon finds out that Georgie traveled to Texas to become his wife.

Cora feels indebted to the man, Eddie, who saved her and her baby Esther. She travels on the Oregon Trail with him. He intimidates her and has her doing most of the work. He’s jealous, and she knows not to look in another man’s direction. An early snowstorm leaves her in danger of frostbite, and when Harrison Walsh carries her off to his wagon to be treated, Eddie becomes enraged and drops Cora’s trunk off at Harrison’s wagon. Harrison Walsh was happily married until three months ago, when his wife died.

A handsome man, Greg Settler, decides to go and make his own mark on the world. He travels to California to try his luck at gold mining. From the first day he realizes he knows nothing about gold mining. Luckily for Greg, his claim is next to Hugo Watkins and his daughter Mercy’s mine. Mercy Watkins has grown up traveling from mine to mine. Her father, a dreamer, always believed they’d make it big at the next mine. Unfortunately, her father dies, but not before he asks Greg to take care of his daughter. In order to save Greg from hanging, Mercy marries him.