Emerson Sharp's paw has his son's life planned out. Emerson will marry their neighbor's snooty, plain daughter. Emerson sees life with this girl will be unpleasant as all get out. The Barlow girl flirts with him after church the next Sunday. That night he sneaks over to the Barlow farm and lies with the girl in the orchard. The next day the rough Barlow boys come looking for Emerson. He ruined their sister. Emerson flees heading west. He encounters a gambler who takes him under his wing and Emerson learns the gambling trade on the Mississippi River and across the state of Missouri. His gambler mentor is shot and killed in a saloon in northeastern Missouri after the Civil War has begun. Emerson falls in with guerilla fighters. Union soldiers declare him to be a wanted man. As he flees the soldiers, he encounters the daughter of a farmer trying to find survival in the middle of two warring factions. The daughter, however is enamored with the story of Quantrill's wife Katy. She is attracted to Emerson.