A man before his time, Eldon MacCauley, after being wounded in a Civil War battle in which all his comrades are killed, is nursed back to health by a farmers adopted daughter. Although she confesses her love for him, he must flee the killing. On his way west, not only does he rescue a young, starving black boy from a tyrant master, but leads a wagon train of freed slaves to Texas to start a new life. Going against all conventions of the day, the young Scottish immigrant sees racial hatred as a terrible sin, and being a man of not only huge proportions, but also large ideas, through trials and tribulations he carves out a place for himself and his charges. Over many years, he never forgets the woman in West Virginia who saved his life and fell in love with him. One day, he must somehow repay her.
