A grim incident from American pioneer history is recreated as a determined group of settlers, facing almost insurmountable odds, struggles to reach California in 1846. Already divided by internal dissension over the choice of a leader and the selection of a route, the wagon train is soon decimated by Indian raids, a scarcity of food and water, and the unrelenting forces of nature. Finally after months of hardship, the party reaches the High Sierras, only to be stranded in the middle of the pass by an early snowstorm. And as fear of an agonizing death from starvation forces the abandonment of conventional rules of human behavior, the pioneers face a new enemy - each other.
Cast
Robert Fuller
James Reed
Andrew Prine
Lewis Keyser
Michael Callan
William Eddy
Diane McBain
Margaret Reed
John Anderson
Patrick Breen
John Doucette
George Donner
Cindy Eilbacher
Mary Graves
Royal Dano
Sutter
Gregory Walcott
Will Mckutcheon
Lance LeGault
Charles Stanton
Whit Bissell
Uncle Billy Graves
Peggy Stewart
Mrs. Breen
Reid Cruickshanks
John Synder
Robert Carricart
Unknown
Rudy Diaz
Unknown
Brian Erickson
Unknown
John Hansen
Unknown
Paul Grace
Unknown
Barta Heiner
Sarah Fosdick
Augustin Vallejo
Unknown
George Barrows
Unknown
Richard Jury
Unknown
Elaine Daniel
Unknown
Michael Ruud
Unknown
Jorge Moreno
Unknown
Kristen Curry
Virginia Reed
