The characters depicted in this film are based on the experiences of pioneer men and women. The scenes are based on actual events. The film chronicles the hardships of a young woman who joined the fledgling church in its early years and was driven with other Latter-day Saints through Ohio, Missouri and Illinois before finally migrating west to the Salt Lake Valley.

Joshua Steed returns to Missouri a wealthy man, with a beautiful new wife on his arm, but is soon tangled in a web of rumor and deception that threatens to tear his relationship apart. In Kirtland the Prophet charters a bank to repay creditors, which fails. Bankrupt and embittered, contentions erupt among church leaders, as Ben Steed and his family follow Joseph back to Missouri. Meanwhile Governor Boggs raises an army with Joshua at its head. When...