During the days of the California gold rush, Jim Shamrick toils on his claim, Hell's Crater, for two years and then decides to enjoy himself in a nearby mining camp. Bill Gordon, the owner of the local dance hall, gets Jim drunk and then, with the aid of Cherry Maurice, robs him. When the prospector realizes what has happened, he abducts Cherry and forces her to labor in his mine for a year. Though nearly broken by the hard work, Cherry comes to love Jim and eventually marries him.