Natty Bumppo, a young lumberjack known as Deerslayer, and Hustle Harry travel together on the shores of Glimmerglass Lake. It is a dangerous journey because the French and their Iroquois allies are up at war. Deerslayer plans to meet up with his friend Chingachgook, the young head of Delaware, so they can go against the Iroquois. Hurry, Harry heads to the lake to warn Thomas Hutter and his daughters that hostile Indians are invading the border. Harry is used to hunting and trapping with Hutter during the summer, and is a fan of Hutter's eldest daughter, the spirited Judith.
Hutter and his daughters live in a cabin built on stilts in the middle of the lake. Hutter also builds a large, scowling-looking ship, known to frontiersmen as the Ark, in which he travels from one shore to the other on his hunting and trapping expeditions. Upon arrival at the lake, the two find a hidden canoe. After rowing to the cabin and finding it deserted, they go down the lake to find the ark anchored in a secluded outlet. Hutter has already heard about the Indian raiders. The group decides to take refuge in the cabin, where they can only be attacked above the water. The men manage to remove the ark through the narrow exit and navigate to the cabin. They have a narrow escape because when the ark passes through the exit, six Indians try to board the boat by jumping from the hanging branches of a tree. Each one fails and falls into the water.
Undercover of darkness, Hutter, Deerslayer, and Harry Hurry take the canoe and paddle to shore to hide Hutter's two remaining canoes there. They find the canoes and, on their way back to the ark, they see a group of Indians camped under some trees. While Deerslayer waits in a canoe on the high seas, the other two men attack the Iroquois camp in an attempt to obtain scalps, for which they can receive rewards. They are captured. Deerslayer, knowing that he cannot help them, goes to sleep in the canoe until morning.
When Deerslayer awakens, he sees that one of the canoes approached the shore. To rescue him, he is forced to shoot an Indian, the first man he kills. Returning to the fort with his prizes, Deerslayer tells the girls of their father's fate. It is agreed that they will delay any rescue attempt until the arrival of Chingachgook, whom Deerslayer will meet that night.
The group enters the ark and meets Chingachgook at the place where the river meets the lake. Back at the cabin, Deerslayer explains that Delaware came to the lake to rescue his beloved, Wah-ta! -Wah, which was stolen by the Iroquois. Suddenly, they discover that Hetty Hutter is missing. The girl, somewhat weakened, embarks in one of the canoes with the intention of going to the Indian camp to rescue her father and Haste Harry.
The next morning, Wah-ta! -Wah meets Hetty wandering through the woods. Take the white girl to the Iroquois camp. Because the Indians believe that deranged people are protected by the Great Spirit, she is not harmed.
It's Deerslayer's idea to rescue the prisoners with rich brocade and carved ivory that she and Judith found in Tom Hutter's chest. Its contents were known only to Hutter and Hetty, but in this emergency, Judith does not hesitate to open the chest. Meanwhile, a young Iroquois takes Hetty to the cabin on a raft. Deerslayer tells him that the group in the cabin will deliver two ivory chess pieces for the release of the captives. You cannot drive as planned. In the end, four chess pieces are exchanged for the men, who are returned that night.
Hetty brings a message from Wah-ta! -Wah. Chingachgook is meeting the Indian girl in a particular place on the coast when the evening star rises above the fir trees that night. Hurry up Harry and Tom Hutter are still determined to get scalps. When night falls, Hurry, Harry, Hutter, and Chingachgook recognize the camp. To their disappointment, they find it deserted and the Indians ...
