Margaret Reed, a wealthy and proud woman of Chicago unwillingly finds herself a member of the Donner party - a group of pioneers making their way to California by covered wagon in the summer of 1846. One by one the odds begin to stack against Margaret and her family as precious days slip away and an early winter storm closes the passes through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Trapped without adequate food and supplies, Margaret struggles to keep her family alive.
Meredith Baxter
as Magaret Reed
Chris Cooper
as Jack Reed
Larry Drake
as Harry Breen / Patrick Breen
Robert Duncan McNeill
as Milt Eliot
Laurie O'Brien
as Elizabeth Graves
Frances Conroy
as Peggy Breen
Molly Parker
as Eliza Williams
