When the great potato famine hits Ireland, thousands of people are forced to emigrate, among them Katie O'Neill and her husband, Shawn Kildare, who decide to head for South Africa. Once there, Kildare dies in a Zulu attack and Katie is reunited with Paul Van Riebeck, a Boer leader with whom she had fallen in love in Ireland. After much hardship and changes in fortune, Katie is finally able to settle with Van Riebeck as the Orange Free State becomes a reality.