Kate Bates is the youngest of sixteen children. Daughter of a rich but miserly and controlling father she defies his plans for her and leaves home at eighteen, looking to make her own way in life and find a man, a farm and a family. Living in a man's world, Kate is more than ready to do a man's work in order to achieve her dreams. She becomes a teacher but doesn't give up the ambition to own and run a farm. Kate is courted by two gentlemen and, as she marries one, her life seems to be heading the right way. However, one after another disaster plagues Kate and her family testing her unbreakable will, but she continues to plough through, never losing her determination to live her life her own way.