Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott) leads a wagon train of settlers from Kansas to Colorado. Along the way, they cross a group of Indians who don't want any more settlers on their land.

The people of Ile-aux-Coudres talk of their fading tradition of constructing boats to ride the seas.

A woman reminisces about her childhood on a Prairie farm during the Depression. Her memory album is a collection of watercolours by artist/filmmaker Blake James that describe a family's struggle to survive despite drought and poverty. The film is a historical account of the land and the times, simply told through paintings that are alive with warmth and colour.

Shannon wants Hank Stoner`s land for the vanadium ore it contains. He has chemist Wainwright, who can change the ore into gold, held prisoner. But the Frontier Marshals are on the job. Art and Bill have infiltrated the gang and are getting messages to Lee as to the gang`s plans.

Two unemployed cowhands help a pill-popping rancher find the nasty varmint who's been rustling cattle.

At the request of settler boss Miles Forman, Natty Bumppo leads his trek to Michilimackinac, accompanied by Chingachgook. The group of settlers includes the criminal Bush family. After a few days, the wagon trail meets the Pawnee Indian tribe, whose chief Weucha knows Natty and by whom the settlers are warmly received. On the onward journey, the Bush sons veer off to seemingly hunt but sell the Sioux weapons they had stolen from a fort before leaving. On the way back to the trek they are surprised by two hunting Pawnees. In the following fight, one of the Bush sons is killed. The archer is immediately shot, and the other Indian is supposed to be lynched in the camp of the whites. Chingachgook, however, cuts the rope with a bullet. Later, Father Ismael Bush incites the peaceful Pawnees and Sioux against each other by having a Sioux killed and leading suspicion to the Pawnees. The Sioux attack and destroy the Pawnee village.

Billy Carson is accused of the crimes committed by his dead-ringer, outlaw cousin Jim Slade, and barely escapes a lynching. With the aid of his pal Fuzzy Jones, Billy catches up with his cousin and clears his own name.

About the labor exploits of gold miners, the old partisan Fedor Potanin and his son, the leader Stepan.

The Prairie is set at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Hoping to find their destiny in the new territory, the Bush Family heads southward in a covered wagon. Sharing the family's numerous dangers and hardships are Ellen Wade (Lenore Aubert), sole survivor of an Indian attack, and army mapmaker Paul Hover (Alan Baxter). Cousins Abiram (Russ Vincent) and Asa (Jack Mitchum) duke it out over Ellen's affections

Medicine show proprietor Doc Lattimer has in his possession a map showing the location of a cache of stolen gold. His son Don favors keeping the gold rather than returning it to the express company to which it rightfully belongs, and steals the map, only to find himself menaced by outlaw leader Cal and his gang.