An American cavalry brigade is sent to occupy a small Filipino village in 1902 and quell guerilla resistance in the surrounding jungle. Working with the people to build roads, schools, and bridges, they prove that the most important thing an army can have is "good will and integrity."

During the American occupation of the Philippines in 1902, Lieutenant Worth and his cavalry troops befriend the people of San Pascual with food and medicine. Despite this aid, the fanatic Captain Magno persists in resisting the Americans with guerrilla tactics. Beleaguered by a tribe of wild Igorot bandits, Magno falls into the hands of the Americans, but Worth refuses him a martyr's execution and imprisons him instead. Worth receives orders to move on and leaves three men--Sergeant Norcutt, Sergeant Heisler, and Private Haines--to continue helping the community. After Magno's release, one of the Igorots tries to kill him, and the captain insists that the Americans were involved. He manages to overcome the three soldiers, but his small band deserts him when he burns down the new school that the Americans had helped build. Magno then decides to single-handedly attack a supply convoy headed for San Pascual, but some Igorots have the same idea, and Magno ends up siding with the Americans to prevent the burning of the only bridge that links the town with the mainland. His change of heart is complete when he sees that the convoy contains food and medicine rather than weapons.