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The Harvey Girls
In the 1890s, a group of "Harvey Girls"—new waitresses for Fred Harvey 's pioneering chain of Harvey House restaurants—travels on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to the town of Sandrock, New Mexico. On the trip, they meet Susan Bradley, who is traveling from Ohio to Sandrock to marry a man named H. H. Hartsey, whose beautiful love letters she received when she answered a "lonely-hearts" ad.
Upon arrival, Susan is dismayed to find that Hartsey is a "mangy old buzzard" who does not at all meet her expectations. As Hartsey senses Susan's disappointment, the two eventually agree that they are mismatched and call off the wedding. Hartsey then reveals to Susan that his letters were actually written as a joke by Ned Trent, co-owner of the Alhambra Saloon, prompting Susan to confront Ned. Smitten with Susan, Ned offers to pay for her trip back to Ohio, but she instead vows to run him and his saloon out of town.
Susan joins the Harvey Girls, and on the Harvey House's opening night, Ned visits the restaurant and orders a rare steak. Realizing that the meat has disappeared, Susan marches over to the Alhambra with two six-shooters, recovers the stolen meat and serves Ned a raw steak. Later that night, after someone shoots at a lamp in the Harvey Girls' dormitory, most of the women want to flee, but Susan and other waitresses decide to stay, unaware that Ned's business associate, Judge Sam Purvis, is determined to close the Harvey House in order to maintain his own thriving business running the Alhambra in town.
The next day, Ned confronts Purvis about the shooting and demands that he apologize to the Harvey Girls. Instead, Purvis lies to Susan and another waitress, Deborah Andrews, claiming that Ned is not pleased to have the Harvey House in town. Determined to find the culprit behind the shooting, Susan seeks out Ned at the Alhambra and is confronted by Em, Ned's lead saloon singer who is in love with him; she reveals to Susan that it is actually Purvis, not Ned, who wants to run the Harvey House out of town.
Susan later finds Ned alone in a remote valley, and as they discuss love letters and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's poem The Courtship of Miles Standish, they kiss. Returning to town, they find Deborah trapped in the Harvey Girls' closet with a rattlesnake, which Ned shoots dead. Susan accuses Ned of placing the snake in their closet, prompting him to leave. Ned then tells Purvis to stop harassing the Harvey Girls. Some time later, Ned informs Susan that the Alhambra will be relocated to Flagstaff, Arizona, the next morning, and she cries as they say goodbye.
Later that night, when Purvis and his henchmen set fire to the Harvey House, Ned fights them off, but the restaurant burns down. The next morning, Ned offers the Alhambra as a replacement for the Harvey House. Just before Em boards the train to Flagstaff, Ned tells her he is staying in Sandrock. Susan, thinking that Ned too is leaving, boards the same train and is spotted by Em. Realizing that Susan loves Ned so much that she is willing to become a saloon girl to be with him, Em pulls the emergency brake and points out Ned, riding toward the train on his horse. Ultimately, they wed in the desert, surrounded by the Harvey Girls.