A band of outlaws attack and massacre a wagon train of fur hunters in Indian Territory. The only survivor, a seriously injured white woman who is expecting a child, is picked up by White Bear, chief of the Rock Apaches.

Before dying, the woman gives birth to a baby boy, who is given the name of Shining Sky. The youngster is brought up along with Black Wolf, the chief’s own son of the same age.

The two boys grow to love each other like siblings and spend their days in a life of complete freedom. Unfortunately they both fall in love with the same girl, Rising Star. Tragedy ensues when Shining Sky kills his brother. Overcome by grief, he is compelled to leave the world of his youth behind and set out in search of the world to which his parents belonged. He soon discovers, however, how deceptive the veneer of respectability can be, hiding as it does the defects of a merciless, greedy and violent society.