Success story, minus action, of hard driving, hard fighting Ben Holladay, who starts a wagon train from Missouri to Santa Fe -- then into trading with the Mormons -- on to California -- until finally he buys out and freezes out his old rivals, Buford and Russell. Buford is out to smear Holladay's name, to separate him from his bride -- but when he turns to thievery and murder, Holladay puts him on the skids. Little gunplay -- few of the conventional Western trappings. Off the beaten cowpath.