When Barton Baynes's mother and father die, his Aunt Deel and Uncle Peabody provide a home for him. He grows up with Amos Grimshaw, son of a miserly moneylender who holds the farmers of the area in his power, and falls in love with Sally Dunkelberg. Bart becomes friendly with Joe Wright, who arranges for his education in town. There he meets Roving Kate, the Silent Woman, who sees death and the gallows in the palm of Amos and for Bart a future of fame and success. When Kate's fatherless son returns home to see his mother, he is killed by Amos Grimshaw; and Amos' father, Ben, who fights to save him, proves to have been the father of Kate's son.