In the spring of 1881, the horse-farming Logans of Kentucky are a tight-knit and prosperous clan. The family includes widower Ned Logan, the family patriarch, sons Sean and Clay, daughters Alice and young Lexy. There is concern among the family members about Ned's plans to bring a 12-year-old orphan into the family.

The Logans sift through the rubble of the recent tobacco barn fire searching for clues as to how it happened. Jeremy Bradford, the first on the scene of the fire, claimed he had seen two people flee on horseback. When he tells Clay Logan that he couldn't quite make out who they were, an increasingly suspicious Clay tells his brother Sean he doesn't trust Jeremy's story.

Ned Logan is highly suspicious when Regine, the sister of his late wife Libby arrives at the farm unannounced. Ten years earlier, Regine had tried to take his daughters Alice (Lea Moreno) and Lexy away from him when Libby died. A true Boston blue blood, Regine always resented Ned for taking her sister off to Kentucky.

At the urging of his son Clay, Ned Logan buys Gauntlet, a young colt with a fast future. Ned is surprised when the horse sells cheap until he learns about a financial crisis in town. Asa Winters is forced to close down his bank after his reckless son William gambles away the town's savings. The sudden closure angers the townspeople, who are smugly dismissed by Asa on the steps of the bank.

"The Logan family learns that adopted son Jeremy is not an orphan after all. When a letter arrives informing Jeremy that his mother, Emma, who suffered from consumption for three years, has been released from St. Mary's Sanitarium in New York. Jeremy asks Ned Logan (Brett Cullen) if his mother can join them in Kentucky until she's well again.

Cut off from her highly addictive medicine, Jeremy's mother Emma has fled the Logan farm in a horse and buggy, taking young Lexy hostage. Emma is headed to New Orleans in a desperate search for the drug she craves. Ned Logan, along with Clay, Jeremy and trusted farm hand Isaac set off in pursuit.