Hank Kinney, a ranger, witnesses the accidental death of a man and the survival of a motherless infant. Kinney asks the county sheriff to process adoption papers and goes with the child to take up the mining claim left him by his father. Sam Bruce, the richest and most hated man in Copperville, tries to jump the claim and swears vengeance when Kinney kicks him off the property. Kinney strikes up a friendship with Ruth Buxley, daughter of the general store proprietor; and Bruce, who covets the girl, instigates a rumor that Hank is unfit to rear a child and sends the sheriff's posse to get the the baby.