Ned, Frank and Bill are friends. There is a call for volunteers for the Civil War. Frank and Bill enlist, but Ned delays, as he is the only support of a sick mother, who has just had a relapse. This is unknown to the villagers and they believe Ned to be a coward. At last the mother improves sufficiently for Ned to enlist. They start for the front, and Dora, the girl that both Ned and Frank love, promises to wed the one who returns with the highest rank. At their first battle, Frank deserts in action, while Ned proves himself a hero by saving the flag and his captain's life, hut just as he had gotten the unconscious captain to safety, he faints. Frank sees him from the shelter of a tree and creeps out. He drags Ned back behind the tree and himself picks up the flag and his captain and goes to camp, where he is received as a hero by officers and men alike and promised to be mentioned for promotion, which he later receives. As he turns to go, Bill, who had been hiding behind another tree, confronts him, telling Frank that he had seen all. Bill promises to remain silent if Frank will use his influence for him. This he does and the three boys return home after the war, Frank and Bill with commissions, but Ned still in the ranks. True to her promise, Dora marries Frank and moves to a nearby town, where, after a year's time she has become thoroughly disillusioned; her fortune nearly all spent and forced to stand both neglect and abuse. She overhears a quarrel between Bill and Frank on account of the former demanding more money and learns that it was Ned who was the real hero. She leaves, to go to a friend in her home town, but Frank overtakes her and drives her to a sanitarium, telling the doctor in charge of the hospital and sanitarium that the death of her father has unbalanced her mind. He then tells Bill that he will not only outfit him for a mining trip, but also accompany him. They set out, but their first night in the desert Frank gets up stealthily, takes the water and supplies and is just riding away to leave Bill to die, when Bill awakens and fires at him. Frank hurries to the hospital, while Ned and his mother, who have sold their cottage and started across the desert to make a new home, hear Bill's cries, go to him and take him to the hospital. Bill and Frank die, after Bill has confessed and Ned and Dora are left to pick up the tangled threads of their romance.
