When the train carrying him to prison is derailed, Confederate prisoner-of-war Jeff Kyle is surprised when a Yankee sergeant helps him escape. However, the sergeant is Confederate scout Mike Avison in disguise. Together, the two hatch a plan to escape to freedom, but fate intervenes in the shape of Clara Marston, who has in her possession a key to a mysterious deposit box in a bank in Independence, which she believes will make her fortune. Soon the three are joined on their journey by widowed homesteader Pollyanna Cooper, and so begins a journey full of peril and intrigue.