Orphaned as children, David and his sister are sent to live with separate families. Both are abused and the sister dies. Filled with hostility, the now-grown David goes on a mission to seek vengeance on his sister's adoptive family.
Two orphans, brother and sister, are sent to different foster homes, and both are abused. When David's sister dies from neglect, he vows vengeance on the adopting family. He grows up to become an outlaw, and when the opportunity arises, he captures the wife of Hugh Winfield, who, as a boy, was partially responsible for the children's suffering. David intends to kill her but falls in love with and marries her when Winfield dies from a stab wound inflicted by a hunchback during an underwater fight.—AFI