In 1930, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are home to a town of renegade Mormons. On Nancy's 18th birthday, her father tells her she must marry her cousin Abner, the town's blacksmith, huge, slovenly, and violent. He's already married to three other women, one of them her younger sister. Terrified of what being married to Abner would mean, Nancy runs away and gets lost in the woods. Hungry and cold, she finds a seemingly deserted cabin and takes shelter. When she meets Jake, the man who owns it, she must decide if he is a man she can trust. He is willing to wait for her, and as they slowly get to know one another, she learns to love him. Their happiness is short lived when Abner tracks her down. Filled with rage, he sets his mind on murder. Looking for a safe place, Jake takes Nancy to his home town of Manhattan, Kansas, but soon finds they still aren't out of reach of their stalker.