Jesse is a plucky girl growing up on a farm in Missouri whose parents are killed by outlaws. Forced to fend for herself, she becomes involved with a snake oil salesman, Gabriel Dubois but when he is shot as a pickpocket, she gives their baby up for adoption and sets out in the gold rush for California. She finds gold but is double-crossed by her partner. An adventuresome Jesse tries her hand at jobs normally reserved for men: cowboy, army scout, muleskinner and she even rides for the Pony Express. She is brave enough to nurse miners who have smallpox and comes to the aid of a friend in a gunfight. She rounds up wild horses and stops a cattle stampede. She survives a flash flood and a prairie fire. She marries a tenderhearted farmer, Walter Bloom and they have two children but when Walter is struck by lightning, she is left to work their farm alone. Jesse saves the life of a bounty hunter, Caleb Colter and it seems she has finally met her match.