For the first time, we meet the heroes in March 1848 in the California Sierra, when they almost die of hunger, because they had already gotten lost in a snowstorm for a long time and set up camp in a canyon. Two of them, Philip Ashley, a young man of an extraordinary mind and strong character, and his beloved Grace Conroy, leave the camp in order to find some kind of settlement and inform its residents about the squad of immigrants dying in the snow. Among others, Grace's brother, Gabriel Conroy and their three-year-old sister Olli, remain among the others. Before Grace leaves the camp, her friend Dr. Devarges, an elderly person who is near death, gives her a bar of silver and gives a document confirming his right to own the land where he discovered the silver vein, and a gift, transferring this vein to Grace’s property . Their farewell conversation is overheard by a certain Peter Dumphy, who will soon leave the camp too.
After a few days, the paths of Philip and Grace finally reach a village. Philip leaves Grace in the house of a hospitable lumberjack, and he embarks on the return trip to the Hunger Camp to show her brother and sister the path to the village. However, when he ends up in the camp, he meets a squad of rescuers there. It turns out that one of his former companions has already died, and the rest, who still have some strength, including Gabriel and Olli, left this black spot, following the example of Philip Ashley.
Philip Ashley, who took this pseudonym for some reason only while traveling, is actually a former military officer, Arthur Poinsett. In the squad of rescuers, he meets his old companion in the army, and the manner of his behavior, conversation changes, acquiring a skeptical and somewhat cynical connotation, although it can be seen that he is a well-educated and educated person. When, after examining the corpses, the rescuers conclude that Grace Conroy is also among the dead (on the patch on the dress of a woman whom the girl gave him when she changed into a man’s suit before leaving), he decides not to refute this incorrect interpretation of the facts and hides that he himself is one of the surviving inhabitants of the Hunger Camp.
In mid-May, having waited in vain for Ashley's return, Grace, posing as his sister, goes to the garrison commander, Commander Juan Salvierrera and asks for his help. She learns from him that the rescue expedition sent to search for the camp has already returned and that Grace Conroy’s body was found among the dead. Then Grace declares that a mistake has occurred, calls her real name and faints with excitement and weakness. At this moment, she drops Dr. Devarges' document. Then the secretary, the Mexican Ramirez, steals it and further uses it for its own purposes.
Don Juan Salvierre becomes sorry for the poor emaciated girl, and he decides to adopt her. At the end of 1848, with the consent of Grace, he recognizes her as his daughter, born out of wedlock from an Indian princess, and makes her the heir to her entire huge fortune. Under the name of Donna Dolores Salvierra, she leads a solitary lifestyle in his possessions and has been kept incognito for several years. To look like an Indian woman, on the advice of her maidservant, she washes her face and hands daily with yokoto juice, and they are painted in bronze color.
The next five years are not described in the novel, and then the author tells about the life of Gabriel and Olli Conroy, about how it develops after these five years. They live in a mining village called Rotten Hollow in the land donated by Dr. Devarges Grace in a small hut on a hill; their way of life is very modest, since Gabriel does not succeed in any way Capast on a rich vein. Gabriela cannot be called a hero in the generally accepted sense of the word, although in all his actions he is guided by good intentions. He is naive and poorly oriented in the true sense of what is happening. Gabriel possesses remarkable physical strength, he is able to overcome the raging mountain stream, but in the turbulent stream of life he is helpless. So, once he saves from death, which threatens her breakthrough of the dam, one young lady, and later she marries him. This person is called Julie Devarges. She is the divorced wife of the late Dr. Devarges. Ramirez once met her and, hoping to win her heart and profit from this deception, gave her a doctor's gift in the name of Grace. Julie impersonates Grace and arrives in Rotten Hollow with the intention of suing him to take from Gabriel his land, in which there is a rich silver vein that he has not yet found. However, after Gabrielle saves her and she sees that he is a very attractive man, she falls in love with him and decides to end the affair amicably, that is, not through a court, but simply marrying him. As a result of her marriage, she becomes the legal co-owner of the land of Conroev. For a long time, Gabriel did not even suspect that Julie was impersonating her sister, as well as the true purpose of her arrival in Rotten Hollow.
Ramirez is furious that he was held both in love and in business. He is going to take revenge on Julie and Peter Dumphy, now a prosperous banker who is also involved in a fraud and, approving Julie's unexpected move, is trying to take Gabriel’s land in his hands. Through mediation, Julie Gabriel allows the banker to create, based on his development, a joint-stock company with fixed assets at Dumphy, since he cannot process ore at his own expense, because this requires large financial investments at the first stage. He receives a large sum from Dumphy, becomes the manager of his enterprise and a prominent person in the village, without losing his simplicity and hard work.
Ramirez, meanwhile, is attempting to undermine the stability of Dumphy's enterprise. He orders in San Francisco from his friends a fake gift for the same piece of land that the governor gave to Dr. Devarges. He draws it up in the name of Don Salvierrara and throws it into the papers of the already commandant by then. Grace discovers a gift, calls in a lawyer and asks him to find out if she is real. The lawyer works in the same building where Ramirez came to his friends with a request to produce a fake document for him, and then they accidentally met. His name is Henry Perkins, he is the brother of the late Dr. Devarges, who once escaped with his wife Julie, but he carefully hides his real name and leads a very secluded and modest lifestyle. He takes up the fulfillment of the request of Donna Dolores (Grace) and, to find out all the details of the case, first goes to San Francisco, and then to Rotten Hollow.
To understand whether she should claim her rights to Conroy’s land, Grace invites another lawyer, Arthur Poinsett, the very Philip Ashley, who was her fiancé five years ago and now has become a famous lawyer. First, she tries to get advice through her neighbor and friend, a rich young widow, the owner of a huge estate, the beautiful Maria Sepulvida. However, later she decides to meet with Poinset herself. The young man is blinded by her beauty, but due to the dark color of her skin Grace will not recognize her. The girl behaves with him very restrained.
Once in the church, Grace notices Ramirez, apparently watching her. She is confused and fears that the former secretary of don Salvatierra will recognize her. However, a certain Jack Gemlin, a handsome young man, a professional card player who falls in love with Grace at first glance, comes to her rescue. With Ramirez, shortly before, his road already crossed, and he has a frank dislike for this slippery Mexican. He knocks him down, and Grace, meanwhile, manages to hide.
Ramirez begins to guess that Donna Dolores is Grace, however, her fellow countrymen partially dissuade him from this. He goes to the Rotten Hollow with the intention of telling the naive Gabriel everything he knows about his wife, and thus annoy Julie. However, under the pressure of Gabriel, he is forced to open his cards ahead of time and thus is deprived of the opportunity to fully enjoy his revenge and humiliation of Julie. After talking with the Mexican, Gabriel leaves his wife in an unknown direction.
Ramirez threatens Julie with a date in the forest, wanting to explain herself to her. Arriving at the venue, Julie is amazed to encounter Henry Perkins, his former lover. After talking with him, she runs away home. Then he meets Ramirez, who, by his insignificance and cowardice, tries to justify himself and beg her forgiveness, as he hopes that she will return to him again. Julie refuses to return and insults him. Ramirez grabs a knife in a fit of rage and tries to stab it. At that moment, someone puts a hand on his shoulder. This is Perkins. A fight ensues. Julie is hiding. She runs home and writes a note to Gabrielle, in which she says that she has new information about Grace (Ramirez managed to share his guesses with her). She gives the note to the Chinese working in her house and sends it in search of Gabriel. The Chinese are walking through the woods, and at the moment when Ramirez is ready to kill Perkins, he passes by the fighters, although he does not see the fight behind the bushes. Ramirez is scared of the Chinese steps, and, as Perkins later stated, the Mexican sticks a knife into his chest.
The Chinese man finds Gabriel, hands him a note, and he returns home through the forest, but his wife is no longer there. She disappeared. Passing by his forest hut, he saw the body of Ramirez and now comes to the conclusion that the wife of the death of the Mexican is his wife. Despite his break with Julie, he decides to protect her, if necessary, even at the cost of his own life.
He goes to Wingham, a neighboring village, comes into some hotel, where he is going to have lunch. However, the suspicion of the murder of Ramirez falls on him. A sheriff arrives from Rotten Hollow and arrests him. Gabriel does not resist. Jack Gemlin is in the same restaurant and at the same time. When he understands why Gabriel is being arrested, he penetrates this simple-hearted giant with brotherly love, since he himself had long been planning to finish off Ramirez. Gabriel asks him to bring Ollie from the guesthouse, where she is at this time.
On the way back, having already taken Ollie out of the guesthouse, Gemlin discovers that vigilantes are chasing after Gabriel, who want to deal with him before the trial. He leaves Ollie sleeping in Wingdam in the care of his Negro servant Pete and rushes to help Gabriel. In the prison building, Gabriel and the sheriff guarding him barely restrain the door, which is cracking under the pressure of a mob of vigilantees. Gemlin gets inside, but the sheriff who did not recognize him immediately shoots Jack and injures him in the leg. Gabriel with a wounded Jack on his back and the sheriff, fleeing the vigilantees, try to climb onto the roof, then to go down the rope and hide in the forest. However, at this very moment, an earthquake swept across California. The door of the court is below and the door to the attic is jammed, and the sheriff who has not managed to get out is trapped. Gabrielle and Jack get to the abandoned adits and wait for the dark. In the evening they move to the forest, where Ollie and Pete find them. The next morning, the sheriff again arrests Gabriel, but he is later released on bail, which Dumphy makes for him. In the courtyard of his house, Gabriel finds a basket for sewing his wife, and in it - a vest, and realizes that Julie is expecting a baby.
Arthur Poinsett, hired by Peter Dumphy, comes to defend Gabriel in Hollow. Thanks to his legal talent and witness testimony, Gabriela is acquitted. During the trial, it turns out that a certain lady who appeared at the trial under a thick veil is Grace (with a natural complexion). She opposes her brother, as she is offended by the fact that he married an impostor and thereby deprived her of her legal rights to land in Hollow. Poinsett was shocked by the sudden appearance of Grace and the fact that he could not recognize her in the guise of an Indian woman. In the future, he manages to make peace with her, and the young people get married.
Ollie and Gabriel forgive her sister for having nearly put a noose around her brother's neck. Because of the excitement, Julie prematurely gives birth to a child, and he and Gabriel again live in the same family. Instead of the silver core that went underground during the earthquake, Gabriel discovers another in his own area. Conroes again become rich and restore their good name.
