Sandy Doyle, gambler and political chief of a small border town, seeks to gain control of the Bar-X Ranch, owned by Rufe Rickson, to further some undercover activities of his own. He counts on Rickson's inability to stay away from gambling as the means to his ultimate success. Government investigator Oliver Shea and his assistant, Dan Haggerty, start a fight in Doyle's place when they see Rickson being cheated and are invited to the Bar-X where Oliver and Helen Rickson, Rufe's daughter, discover interest in each other and Dan finds himself pursued by Bell, the ranch cook. Sheriff Larson brings the prize money for the $5,000 race of the Rodeo Association, and that night it is stolen.
In California in 1848, Brunton through his stooge Sheriff is evicting the Mexicans from their ranches. Major John Freeman and his troops arrive to investigate. Keeping his troops hidden and appearing out of uniform, he takes up the fight against Brunton. He helps a rancher who has been evicted before his taxes were due only to find him murdered and this leads to the showdown between Brunton's men and the soldiers.
Kent wants the Allen ranch. So he has Steve and his men rustle their cattle using Pete as an informant. When the Trigger Pals Lucky, Stormy, and Fuzzy fight back, Kent frames Stormy for the rustling.
Outlaws Dale and Tucson quit Wolf's gang. Just as the two are about to rob the stage, Wolf and his gang beat them to it. Dale breaks it up saving the money and this gets him appointed Sheriff. But Wolf shows up and threatening to expose Dale, forces him to let his gang rob the express office.
The Lone Stranger is sleeping when his faithful, if overly caricatured, Indian scout sees stagecoach driver Porky being robbed by a bad guy. The scout summons the Lone Stranger, who rides to the rescue. The bad guy goes after him (and, briefly, the narrator). But just in the nick of time, the Lone Stranger recovers and conquers the bad guy. Meanwhile, Silver and the villain's horse have been having their own close encounter, and Silver returns with several little colts.
When it appears that Fred Jamison is a member of Red's gang, he is kicked out of the Rangers. But it's just a plot between Fred and the Ranger Captain. Fred then gets into Red's gang and makes plans that will enable the Rangers to bring them all in. But his message to the Captain is intercepted and the hoax revealed.
Bob Blake and his sidekick and four singing cowboys arrive at the Jackson ranch where Bob learns from Betty Jackson that her brother, Joe, is missing. Bob investigates and learns that there is gold on the Jackson ranch, and the neighboring rancher has kidnapped Joe in order to get his land.
The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid. But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the posse with a plan that will do away with the Mesquiteers.
Molly Taylor owns the town of Stillwell but is unaware the taxes are due as Gomer has stolen her notice. Bob Martin arrives at the same time as Molly and eventually realizes Gomer is up to something. When Gomer's henchman slips and reveals there is a letter, Bob finds it and heads for the tax collector with Gomer's men in pursuit.
The local school is causing Hoppy problems. First Bar 20 cattle are stolen when Hoppy investigates a problem there. Then the new teacher arrives and disrupts the routine of the Bar 20 hands. Later with the Bar 20 hands at graduation, the rustlers are poised to strike again. But there is dissension among them and this will lead to the break that Hoppy needs.
Halstead forces the Land Agent to alter the records and then kicks the Mexicans off their land. Buck has been sent to investigate and quickly joins up with Juan Cantova in the fight against Halstead. To keep Buck from seeing the records, Halstead has the Agent murdered. His men then claim Juan killed him and both Buck and Juan then find themselves wanted dead or alive.
An unusual film in that it was composed of new film footage tacked onto an original film produced by M. H. Hoffman Sr. and Jr.,and never released because of the collapse and merger of the Hoffman's Liberty Company into the newly-formed Republic operation in mid-1935, and consequently has two different sets of actors and production crew members.