Unable to convince her father to get in the carriage, Jennie Lee flees and races the Indians and is led to a deserted shack by a cowboy as his partner heads off for aid.
A summary of the plot was provided in The Nickelodeon states, "Jennie Lee and her father are on their way to Golden California, from a little Kansas farm, traveling in a prairie schooner.
A lone cowboy calls upon them and finds the old man in a jovial mood and cautions him to beware: of a hostile tribe of Indians, through whose country they are now traveling.
The Indians leap astride their shaggy ponies and with war whoops ride off to make short work of the whites.
After a long and thrilling ride in which the Indians gradually gain on her, she is joined by the friendly cowboy, who sends a crony who was with him, to a neighboring ranch for help.
The girl expresses her great joy at being rescued and upon proposal of her cowboy protector that she marry him, she readily agrees.
Due to public demand and interest, studios began adding credits to their film lists in later productions.
[5] A musical accompaniment of the film was preserved in a comment by an unidentified columnist titled "Our Western Correspondent" that stated, "I was in one of the theaters here the other evening and witnessed the Essanay reel, "Across the Plains," and the scene in the cabin where the man and woman are pumping bullets into the Indians making an attack on the place was beautifully illustrated by the genius at the piano, who thumped out "Every Little Bit Added to What You've Got, Makes Just a Little Bit More..."[6] This song was composed by William and Laurence Dillon.