In present-day Fresno, the raisin-growing empire of the once-wealthy Kensington family has fallen on hard times and they are locked in a bitter struggle with their arch-rival (and former business partner), the villainous Tyler Cane. The Kensingtons are pinning their hopes on a new grape variety they have developed: a breakfast raisin with the bran already "inside" the fruit. Faithful foreman Juan is charged with getting the prototype raisins to the patent office in Sacramento, but on the way he is ambushed by Tyler Cane's men, who destroy the shipment. Juan is saved by the sudden appearance of a mysterious, shirtless stranger, Torch. He accompanies Juan back to the Kensington ranch, where he is immediately hired as a ranch-hand. As Charlotte shows Torch around the ranch, she explains how, 20 years earlier, her late husband Yancey fell out with his former friend and partner, Tyler Cane, and then died as the result of a mysterious fall into a raisin dehydrator. Torch begins to investigate the Kensingtons' affairs, awakening suspicions in Charlotte about the circumstances of Yancey's mysterious death, and later his conversation with Charlotte's adopted daughter Tiffany sparks her interest in finding her real parents.