Teenagers Bradley Featherstone and Ida Mae McLeod are in love... or so it seems. Ida's father, Angus, has vetoed the marriage until his daughter is older. Bradley faces the draft for the Civil War when his father Henry decides to take Homestead Act land in Oregon. They leave Ohio by canal boat and embark upon a long journey across the country by river and by land-without Ida Mae. Rufus Lindsay is also interested in Ida Mae but waits until Bradley...