After fleeing a marriage in Canada, Pearl Hart ends up in Kansas, searching for a man to buy her a drink. Suddenly, a man named Boot, who Pearl renames as John Boot, emerges from a hole in the ground wearing nothing but cowboy boots. Together, they begin robbing as many stagecoaches as they can. John's ghostlike presence bothers Pearl but they continue to work together as a crime-couple. Soon enough, the two are apprehended and although Pearl is sent to a county jail in Arizona, John is sent to a penitentiary in Florida. While Pearl sits in her cell, John appears and breaks them out. They head down to New Mexico but are once again captured and brought before a judge. John is sentenced to thirty years, but Pearl gets only five. Their first night there, John once again appears in Pearl's cell but doesn't have enough strength to break them out. After two years of nightly visits, Pearl tells John he needs to escape, so he does, leaving her behind. Feigning great heartbreak, Pearl transforms into a model prisoner. The warden's wife sympathizes with Pearl's amazing transformation and tells the governor about her supposed rehabilitation in the hopes that he will pardon her. When the warden arrives and enters her cell, he says he'll grant her a pardon if she has sex with him. Pearl is disgusted and curses him out of the cell. That night she calls on John who appears later. She asks him to have sex as many times as they can because she wants his baby. After the first time, John says he can sense that she's pregnant. Two months later, Pearl tells a nurse and the warden's wife about her pregnancy, but insists it's the governor's baby. The governor agrees to pardon her and Pearl leaves the penitentiary a news sensation.