Stony's brother George has been accused of murder and the Mesquiteers have returned to prove his innocence. But they find that Harvey rules the town along with his stooge Sheriff Gray and that George won't get a fair trial.
Cowboy Larry O'Day and his sidekick Lucky Smith happen upon a distraught Barbara Hartwell, who is about to be arrested for the murder of her uncle. With Barbara behind bars, Larry is determined to find the real killer and soon finds himself in the middle of a mystery involving crazed German entomologists and a smuggling ring bringing Chinese "picture girls" across the Mexican border for sale to wealthy Chinese bachelors.
A crooked real estate manipulator sells worthless land on mortgage to flood refugees, then tries to profit by reselling the land to the state, committing murder in the process, as the Three Mesquiteers work to bring him and his gang to justice.
Ace Beldon is in prison, but with his stolen bonds not recovered, Capt. Saunders has an idea. He sends Graham to prison and has him and Beldon break out. With Ranger Raymond assisting, they make their escape and get to the hangout run by Stone. But the plan starts to go awry when Sam overhears Graham talking with the Captain and reports back to Stone.
William Reardon, a steel magnate, dies and leaves a strange will. When his spineless and dandified heir and son returns home from living in Paris, he finds "Tons' Walker, a strong and burly steel worker running the company, per his late-father's will request. He also finds that his father's will specifies the Junior will change his name to Bill Hall and work in the family steel mill for a year under the fake name. Walker's job is to make a man out of the son. The son is not overjoyed by this prospect. Neither is Walker.
As the sheriff of a small western town, Autry sings his way into a relationship with Eleanor, a singer from a Chicago nightclub who earlier witnessed a murder.
Aircraft are being shot down by a large black plane with a big "X" painted on the wing. The chief suspects are invited for the weekend to an old dark mansion.
In his film debut Ritter is sent to investigate miners being killed and their mines confiscated. The culprit is Evans and after Tex joins the gang, he is sent to kill two more miners. When Estaban is killed, Tex is put on trial for all three murders.
Martin Granville Jr., a star track-and-field athlete, has intentions of going to Claxton College, but changes his mind when he meets Pat Meredith, a co-ed at a rival college, changes his mind team and goes to college there, just as his father Martin Granville Sr., an alum of the school, had wished. But his father has ordered him not to play football. "Dad" Granville, has offered a $100,000 endowment to his old school, not knowing his son has joined the football team, but is going to withdraw it if his son plays in the Big Game against Claxton.
When Brent Halston returns he finds his father in an insane asylum and Wilton about to foreclose on their ranch and bring sheep onto the cattle range. When Wilton kills a rancher, Brent is blamed and jailed. Escaping jail he gets Ware to confess that he payed to have Halston committed. He then gets unexpected help from Ethel Gordon when Wilton tries to foreclose.
When a gang tries to rob Haldain, Jim and Walla Walla break it up. Haldain is carrying stuffed animals and Jim's suspicion that they are stuffed with gold is soon confirmed. The gang's boss is banker Cutting and he is after Haldain's gold. He also receives Jim's mail at his bank and changes one of Jim's letters to make it look like Jim is after the gold. His sends Haldain's daughter after her father thereby leading the gang to the secret gold field.
Reporter Steve Haines, on the trail of a business tycoon, follows his subject onto an ocean liner and gets wound up in a cruise full of intrigue, romance and murder.
Chet Kasedon is after the Indians hidden gold mine but Chief Moya will not reveal it's location. He has also hired mining engineers Gale and Mortimer to locate the mine. When Gale sees Kasedon's cruelty to Moya, he switches sides.
Although Larry "Buster" Crabbe earns top billing, the hero of Drift Fence is former Western star Tom Keene as Jim Travis, who, at a rodeo, meets city dweller Jim Traft, who has come west to erect a fence that will prevent Clay Jackson from continuing his cattle rustling business. A tough Western type, Travis suggests that he impersonate Traft and the building of the fence soon begins. But Travis is opposed by Slinger Dunn and his family, whose small ranch will suffer from the division of the land. A romance between Travis and Slinger's sister, Paula, paves the way for a meeting of the minds, however, and Slinger switches sides completely upon learning that Travis is a Texas Ranger in disguise.