Mavis Hawn endlessly practices her marksmanship in the bleak hills of Kentucky, vowing to one day visit revenge on the man who murdered her father. Mavis and her sweetheart Jason Honeycutt learn that businessman Morton Sanders plans to foreclose on all the local farmers and seize their coal-rich properties. They join a vigilante group that confronts Sanders, who is later found dead. Mavis is arrested for the crime and Jason desperately fights to gather the evidence that will save her from the hangman's noose.
The Heart O' The Hills was an acting stretch for 27 year old Mary Pickford portraying a teenager as opposed to the young girls she was best known for. Nicknamed "America's Sweetheart," she was one of the most popular and highly paid actresses of the silent era, was a co-founder of the United Artists studio and one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She would star in 52 features and win the 1929 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Coquette.