David Harvey is a widower with a young son who decides that he needs a woman around the house to cook, clean and teach his son basic schooling. He consults the preacher at the nearest settlement who recommends that Rachel, a bonded servant would make a suitable wife. Harvey is a decent man and he treats Rachel well, but far more as a servant than a wife. When his smooth-talking friend Jim Fairways arrives and shows an obvious interest in Rachel, he starts to realize that she means far more to him than he thought.