Rachel and the Stranger is a 1948 American historical film starring Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum.

[2] In early America, David Harvey (William Holden), a recent widower farming in the wilderness in the Northwest Territory, decides that his young boy Davey (Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him.

In view of the dearth of women in the settlement, David buys the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (Loretta Young).

David is still grieving for his dead wife Susan, and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his mother.

Unlike Susan, Rachel is unskilled in the use of a musket, but she resolves to learn to shoot to connect with the boy and through him, with the father.

Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a hunter who is a family friend, visits and becomes attracted to Rachel.

That night, while they are camped after finding Rachel, they see a glow in the sky and fear the Shawnee are attacking settlers.