When their frontier cabin is attacked and burned by Shawnee Indians, Ralph and Rachel are separated. Rachel gives birth alone in a cave while Ralph fends off the attackers in their cabin. Rachel, thinking Ralph has been killed, sets out on a 25-mile trek through the wilderness to the nearest settlement, Fort Osage (Now Sibley, Missouri). She has a phobia about the wilderness and the beasts that live in it - including the savage Indians. Fighting a battle of her own with fear, pain, hunger and exhaustion, Rachel repeatedly gets lost.
Ralph, wounded in the battle, is having a hard time catching up with Rachel. He is unaware that she has given birth to their son. He is concerned by the fact that she keeps getting lost, but when he discovers an Indian is stalking her, he is terrified for her.