A small town in late 1800's Virginia, owned by two sisters, Jessy and Hannah Tate, is threatened when the governor decides he needs the land in order to construct the railroad to transport oil and gold more easily. He makes them a generous offer for the worth of the land, assets, and then some, but the family is unwilling to do so, wanting to preserve the natural wild life land for the use of experimental drug making and other sorts of concoctions.