When a minister dies from alcoholism, his daughter Briar Rose is unofficially adopted by a team of lumberjacks, including the rough-and-tumble 'Hell-to-Pay' Austin. The child's innocence and purity eventually transform Austin into an upstanding Christian. Briar goes away to boarding school and Austin has to come to her rescue when she falls in with the wrong crowd. Reunited, they discover that their guardian/ward relationship has evolved into one of true love and they marry.