Lieutenant Carter, with his young wife and one year old baby, arrives at the new settlement, where they are well received. A squaw, Machee Chee, looks with awe at the pretty baby and is allowed to carry it. The young couple go to the store to buy a cradle. The storekeeper laughs and tells them that they have no use for them there. The cowboys overhear this. They get a log and carve out a rough, but comfortable cradle, which they present at a party given on baby’s first birthday. The settlers invade the Modoc lands and their intrusion is fiercely resented by the Indians. The settlers stand by their guns and continue to settle. The Indians set out upon their era of extermination. They attack isolated settlers and massacre them. At Yreka the settlers welcome the cavalry, and two miners, coming upon the ruins of a wagon train with its victims, ride back to Yreka and give the alarm. Lieut. Carter bids his wife good-bye and leads his troopers and the settlers to the Indian camp, where they propose to punish the redskins. The Indian scouts are on the alert. One returns to the camp to report the coming of the cavalry and then goes out to meet the cavalry and offers to lead them to the camp. Carter threatens him with death if he plays them false. The Modocs resolve to hide their whereabouts and remove their camp, leaving it sorrowfully. Machee Chee is with them. The Indian scout comes to the brow of a hill, warning the cavalry to wait whilst he goes ahead to reconnoiter. He disappears over the hill, cuts his horse adrift and hides in a hollow tree. Carter soon realizes he has been fooled, and follows. When they have passed by the Indian scout, he cuts through the brush and eventually reaches the new camp and reports to his chief, being rewarded with an eagle feather for his bravery and cunning. The Modocs are approached by the Shoshones and an alliance against the pale face is formed. The war dance is danced. Machee Chee listens and fears for her white friends. She steals off and warns the settlers. She continues on to Yreka. Her horse goes lame. She runs on foot and arrives exhausted, but has fulfilled her mission. The Indians attack a settler’s cabin. One Indian climbs on the roof. The woman within pours feathers on the fire and the Indian staggers and falls from the roof half suffocated. The Indians are interrupted by the coming of the soldiers. Machee Chee tells Mrs. Carter she must go and help save the cavalry and rides away. She spurs on and from a point of vantage sees the Indians preparing to ambush the cavalry. Machee Chee comes up as the battle is being waged. She sees Carter fall, struck by a bullet. She puts on a dead brave’s head dress to disguise herself and drags him away, helps him on a horse and rides to his home. The soldiers and the settlers rally, turn the tide of battle and rout the red skins. Machee Chee brings Carter to his wife and when his wound is all attended to she goes to the cradle, picks up the baby she is going to remain to nurse, and places it in Carter’s arms.