Victoria (Tory) Blaisdell longs to live a life as adventurous and independent as that of her heroine, Jane Eyre. When Tory's father loses his job and decides to seek a share of the newly discovered gold in California, Tory stows away on the westbound ship carrying her father and younger brother, Jacob. Though San Francisco is mud-caked, frenzied, and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory quickly finds friends and independence - until her father leaves...

Describes the adventurous prospectors who traversed the United States in 1848 in response to rumors of gold in the Sacramento Valley, detailing the rough and rowdy cities that popped up, seemingly out of thin air, to accommodate the treasure-seekers.

A raucous western comedy, is punctuated with a classic Lerner and Loewe musical score, including "They Call the Wind Maria" and "I Talk to the Trees." The story of a gold mining boomtown full of brawny men centres on the work-and-play partnership of Ben and Pardner (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) and the delicate wife they share (Jean Seberg).