The infant love of a son for his mother, prompted Broncho Billy to secure money by fair means or foul to save her home. In the first place he sold his gun for almost nothing and gambled the receipts which he lost. That night, when all was still, Broncho Billy stole twelve horses
It was a time when men thought quick and shot quick, self-preservation being Nature's first law. The stage-coach, having the precious freight of two fair girls and much of Uncle Sam's mail, goes through on schedule time, despite the fact that a band of outlaws leagued to rapture the mail coach.
When a woman's heart turns to stone, that is the time to watch out for her, for the possibilities are that you win lose her. This was Broncho Billy's experience, anyhow.
After the death of his wife the baby was all the sheriff had left, the promise of hope in the future, and the reflection of all that was dear in the past. But a sheriff has no time to tread a cradle rocker, so the baby started off on the long journey to relatives across the desert. Then the sheriff was called away to hunt the "bad men" of the desert, and found there a deserted prairie schooner, the occupants dead and his baby gone.
Broncho Billy, suffering from a fever, collapses on the doorstep of a ranchman's home. John Harding, returning from his work, carries Broncho Billy into the house and places him on the bed. A doctor is summoned. A few weeks later, Broncho Billy now fully recovered thanks Harding and his wife for their kind treatment and returns to town where he is greeted with a welcome hand by everyone. Two or three days later Fred Church, hiding behind a tree opposite to Harding's home, sees the latter leave. Church forces his attentions on Mrs. Harding. Returning to his home Harding is informed by his wife of what had happened during his absence.
Broncho Billy's sister, Geraldine, is in love with Fred Church, a worthless sort. Broncho Billy discovers Fred Church, the lover, in the town saloon filling himself full of liquor. Church requests Broncho Billy to drink with him, but the latter refuses emphatically. A little later Geraldine confesses her love for Church to her brother.
Broncho Billy is in love with Agnes Shephard. The jealousy of the step-sister Evelyn arouses in her a scheme which, if carried out, would result in the breaking of the engagement.
Dare Devil Tom Wallace, so called because of his seeming lack of fear, is held up while riding in the stage and robbed by a masked desperado named Morgan. Wallace finds the trail of the robber and follows it to the face of a cliff.
Broncho Billy, half crazed with liquor, enters a saloon and demands a bottle of whiskey. This he absorbs about half, which places his physical and mental condition in a state of sub-consciousness. Completely intoxicated, Broncho Billy is placed on his horse and led away. Having ridden a few miles in this condition, he falls off his mount unconscious. Mabel Clark, a squatter's daughter, discovers him by the roadside, washes off his aching brow, and brings him to.
In this story the young wife concerned is called upon to solve a rather momentous question. After separating from her husband, whom she has discovered to be a brute and a criminal, she is about to give herself to another man, believing her husband dead, when he appears before her fleeing from justice. Shall she deliver him to the law or surrender to his claims? She yields in one instance, but not in the other. Then justice intervenes.
Maizie Mackey finished with her term at boarding school in Los Angeles, leaves her sweetheart, Bud Stone, and returns to her father's ranch near Ash Forks, Cal. A few weeks later, Bud, lonesome and downhearted, wires Maizie's father that he is coming on to ask a very important question.
In this rare, surviving one-reel Western from the pioneering Kalem company, Ruth Roland's fiancé, Dick, is falsely accused of robbing a bank, a dirty deed actually committed by one Black McCarty. Roland helps Dick escape and later supplies him with a weapon, but her irate father, the sheriff, must be put out of action -- by his own handcuffs as it turns out -- before the villain can be captured and peace restored.
Jim Hendricks receives a letter from his daughter in the east stating that she is on her way and will arrive with her little girl that day. The stagecoach carrying her from the railroad station, some miles from her father's home, meets with an accident. While repairing the vehicle of ancient times, Bessie Hendricks' young daughter, canters off into the woods in search of wild flowers. Bessie runs after her. Having captured the young rascal and returning to the road Bessie discovers the coach has gone on its journey.
Broncho Billy, haying disturbed the laws of the state, is thrown into jail. The warden hands the outlaw a cup of water and a piece of stale bread. The latter grabs the warden's hand, pulls it through the bars and threatens the former with a broken arm unless he unlocks the door. Broncho Billy, having gained his freedom, takes to the woods.
Ted, the foreman of "The Diamond S. Ranch" is in love with Dora, Dad's daughter. Tafe is the leader of a band of desperate characters that have been terrifying the neighborhood for some time. He sees Dora and immediately decides to try and make an impression upon her.
Broncho Billy is seen smoking a cigar in a general store in the far west. An Indian enters, who tries to force his attentions on a young girl. The Indian is rejected by Broncho. The Indian swears revenge.