Si Henderson is the only mountaineer to get a job with the railroad when it starts coming through the West Virginia mountains. This development incurs the wrath of Jeb Slater, who keeps alive the century-old feud between the Slaters and the Hendersons. He tries to kill Si but shoots Mrs. Henderson instead. Dying, she makes Si and her son, David, promise to let the feud die with her. Years pass; David and Jeb's son, Mel, work together; but David lives in constant fear of Mel, who is a drunken bully. Both love Mary Baxter, but she cares only for David. Jeb is released from prison and wrecks the Midnight Flyer, crippling Si and thus forcing him to retire. David, on his first run as engineer, is tormented by Mel to the point of jumping off the train just before it hits a wagon. Both David and Mel are fired. Two detectives come to arrest Jeb; Mel kills one of them; and in a drunken rampage, Mel imprisons Mary and the superintendent, Kellogg, in a train and heads it on a collision course toward the Midnight Flyer. David, overcoming his fears, boards the train, defeats Mel in a fight, and stops the train.—AFI