Five down-on-their-luck miners in Circle City, Alaska gather at a local hotel, desperate to recoup their depleted finances. MacDonald, a former football star, suggests they buy an insurance policy on whichever man draws the fatal ace. At the end of the year, that man would commit suicide so the remaining four could collect the payout. MacDonald purposefully draws the ace, but soon after discovers a gold vein in his mine. He abandons the suicidal insurance plan and shares his newfound wealth with the group. The fortune also saves a woman named Emily—who traveled to the harsh north to marry a man who turned out to be broke—and she begins a romance with MacDonald instead.