Heads of rival lumber camps meet in a fight. Louis Lenoir, a renegade French Canadian, causes the death of "Big" MacDonald, a hard-fighting Scotsman whose life is guided by his dogmatic religious beliefs. His son, Ranald, is left to settle the blood feud. In spite of the pleas of his sweetheart, the daughter of a minister, he participates in a gang fight on the logs in mid-river just as a log drive to Ottawa begins. Attempting to stop the fight, the girl becomes involved, falls into danger, and is carried toward a whirlpool; but MacDonald, having abandoned his attack on Lenoir, rescues her. At the finish Lenoir, grateful because his life has been spared, experiences a reformation.—AFI