Wild Cat Betsey Dawley, whose father, Handsome Harry, was disowned by the proud Dawley family of Greenburgh, Kentucky, meets and thoroughly charms her snobbish cousin Virginia's fiancé, John Davidson, at a picnic. At the start of the Civil War, John becomes a Union officer, while Betsey and her father staunchly defend the South. When Confederate Colonel Morgan, the leader of the intrepid band known as Morgan's Men, commissions a young horseman to deliver an important message to the Dawley mansion, the rider is shot and Betsey takes his place, breaking through the lines and successfully accomplishing the mission.