Going to San Francisco, Jack Conroy leaves his wolfdog White Fang with his friend, Henry Casey. The two form a bond, but trouble follows when they are washed ashore while sailing to bring their gold into town.
Meanwhile, Native American chief Moses Joseph has a dream about White Fang and his niece Lily Joseph. He believes Lily will guide them to find the wolf, whom he thinks could help save the starving tribe. Lily sails to the river, hears White Fang barking, and spots the wolf, who disappears. Henry appears in his place, leading Lily to believe the wolf has changed into him. She rescues Henry and brings him back to her home.
While Henry makes his way through the wilderness to locate the man he’s searching for, White Fang finds a wolf pack and follows it. However, he decides not to join them and continues his journey. Henry returns to town and sees many hungry people, where Reverend Leland Drury explains the dire state of the community. The town’s desperation weighs on everyone, and Henry gifts Lily a white shawl before rejoining his companion and the village.
That night, as he stays with the tribe, Henry hears White Fang howling and senses a deep bond returning between them. He experiences a dream similar to Moses’s, this time including himself, and the connection feel tangible. Moses gives Henry a bow and arrows and sends him into the forest to practice his hunting skills with Peter, Moses’s son. Lily tries to convince her uncle to let her join Henry, but Moses refuses, insisting that women do not hunt.
When the time comes, Henry, White Fang, and Peter venture into the forest; Lily secretly slips along to join them. Henry narrowly avoids a trap, Peter is shot, and Henry is charged with tracking caribou while a gunman on horseback is distracted. They manage to escape, but Henry’s leg is caught in a snare and he is nearly killed by a hunter in a blind. Lily saves him, and they press on toward the hunting grounds, only to find a manmade wall blocking the caribou’s passage. Curious, they slip away to investigate and fall into a hidden airshaft that leads to a gold mine.
Inside, they discover Reverend Drury is behind the blockade, running an illegal mining operation. They decide to steal dynamite to clear the path, but Henry spots the Reverend; when the Reverend threatens a Native American miner, Henry refuses his offer of a share and stands up to him. A struggle ensues as Henry shoots the Reverend in the arm and Lily is captured by Drury’s men. Henry escapes the mine with White Fang defending him, and they set the dynamite. The explosion rips the manmade obstruction apart and frees the caribou herd.
Meanwhile, the Reverend has loaded gold and a bound Lily onto a wagon and is making a break for it. Henry and White Fang race through the forest to save her. As the wagon careens toward a cliff edge, Henry and White Fang leap onto it; White Fang lunges at the Reverend, and they tumble down the cliff together. Henry frees Lily from her bonds, and the Reverend is felled by the stampeding herd.
Henry and Lily return to the village with a wounded White Fang, and Lily returns the hidden gold to Henry, along with the white shawl he gave her. She looks at him and, with the shawl settled around her shoulders, softly proclaims, > "she chooses" him, and they embrace while White Fang’s mate steps from the trees to join him. Three months later, White Fang and the female wolf have a litter of pups, and Henry and Lily arrive at the den to a warm welcome from the new family.
