Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary

A trek of prairie schooners is on its way to the Wild West in 1863. The Canary family, led by their father, are seeking a better life, as are the other travellers. When the father dies in an accident, his twelve-year-old daughter Martha Jane has to take over the responsibility. This is a welcome challenge for the girl, who has never been much good at dolls and clothes. Martha Jane grows into a role that was reserved for men at that time. She refuses female habits, smokes, drinks, curses and calls the tune. Her male travelling companions of the same age and especially the leader of the trek do not want to accept this. A fake theft, which Martha Jane is accused of, is supposed to bring her to her senses. The girl has no other choice than to flee into the wilderness and hope to find the real thieves herself. Later she will become a legend as Calamity Jane, a woman who masters the hard life in the Wild West and successfully fights against the dominance of men and their arbitrariness.