It's the summer of 1873 in St. Louis when young Meg Brannon flees an abusive husband, her eye on making a new life homesteading in Kansas. Leader of a group of women settlers, she battles a cattle baron who means to keep the open range for himself and will drive them out, or else. In constant fear of the bounty hunter her husband has hired to find her, Meg struggles to maintain her farm. The group starts a road ranch for travelers and sets up a newspaper and post office. Through heartbreak and joy the homestead thrives, leaving Meg to realize that she must find a way to free herself from the past.