Summary
From the untamed heart of the California Sierras emerges a primal tale of innocence, betrayal, and the rediscovery of self. A young woman, an enigma clad in the very fabric of the wilderness, has forged an existence alongside formidable grizzly bears, her companions in a secluded cave, her days spent in idyllic communion with nature's smallest creatures. This sylvan harmony shatters with the arrival of civilization's less savory elements: Jim Hamilton, a calculating gambler, and his paramour, intent on ensnaring the affluent Bob Jordan in a dubious mining venture. A calamitous misunderstanding ensues when Jordan, mistaking the leaf-and-feather-garbed girl for a wild beast, wounds her. His subsequent act of nursing ignites a profound, almost slavish, devotion in the mute girl. The abandoned mine, however, holds more than just mineral prospects; it is a crucible where fragmented memories resurface. Hamilton’s own past, a brutal Indian raid fifteen years prior that claimed his family, collides with the girl’s own nascent recollections of fleeing the same terror. Unbeknownst to them, their fates are intricately bound, for this wild creature is none other than Hamilton's long-lost daughter. As Hamilton’s mistress attempts to ensnare Jordan, her efforts prove futile, leading Hamilton to a desperate attempt at armed robbery, thwarted by the girl’s playful burying of Jordan’s money belt. Her innocent prank, however, incurs Jordan's wrath, driving her back to her cave-dwelling solitude, only for a poignant reconciliation to follow, culminating in the belt's return. With the mistress’s departure alongside a new paramour and Hamilton’s retreat to the urban jungle, Jordan embarks on a new path, the wild girl, now his devoted shadow, following resolutely at his heels, a testament to a bond forged in the crucible of the wild.
Synopsis
A teenage girl lives with two grizzly bears in a cave in the California Sierras and plays with rabbits and birds. When gambler Jim Hamilton and his mistress try to interest wealthy Bob Jordan in purchasing an abandoned mine in the Sierras, Jordan, mistakes the girl clothed in leaves and feathers for an animal, shoots her in the arm. He nurses the girl, who cannot speak, and she repays him with a slave-like devotion. At the mine, Hamilton remembers that fifteen years earlier, Indians attacked his home while he was away and killed his family. The wild girl, really Hamilton's daughter, remembers fleeing from the raid into the woods. Although Hamilton's mistress tries to seduce Jordan, he refuses to buy the mine. Hamilton then tries to rob Jordan at gunpoint, but the girl has buried Jordan's money belt as a prank. Jordan's anger causes her to return to her cave, but later they reconcile, and she returns the belt. After Hamilton's mistress leaves with another man, Hamilton returns to the city, and Jordan starts back with the girl following at his heels.
