In the mid-1860s, Kirk Petersen's family settles on a homestead in North Dakota. After tragedies, he moves to Fargo, where he meets Alice, a beautiful woman running from her past. Wise beyond
his years, Wilmer Petersen has reason to distrust her. Morris Nesslebaum is in Fargo looking for work and land. He befriends Alice and Wilmer and falls in love with Myrtle, whose father disowns
her. Hazel, a homely teacher with little chance at love finds it in Fargo but is forced to choose between love and a predicament not her doing.The Porters are welcomed into the homesteading
community despite their background as former slaves. In Fargo and on the homesteads, these lives have been difficult because of outside influences and personal and natural disasters, so they
want to form their own town.