Dave and Phillip Hull, twins, are totally different in character. Dave is steady, slow to hate and true in love. Phillip, the gay and popular gambler, is perhaps more lovable on the surface, but shifty and flare-tempered underneath. Dave loves little Meg, daughter of Hardy, a cattle rustler. Dave does not know that the father is a cattle rustler, however.
William Young and his daughter, Mildred, settle in the west, with the intention of investing their money in a mine. True Boardman, a mine shark, knowing that Young will be easy money, salts the mine and sells it to them.
Wally Bristow is a wealthy young chap infatuated with a heartless society girl. He discovers that she is not true to him and leaves her. At the club he runs into an argument among the members to the effect that none of them could start out with nothing and return in a year, married and successful. Wally takes his friends up on the bet. Wally goes west and secures employment on a ranch. He becomes the butt of the cow punchers jokes, and his employer's daughter thinks him a prig until, one day, she observes him thrash a ranch bully for ill-treating a dog. Soon after she promises to be his wife. The society girl, meantime, hears of it and starts west to break up the match. Arriving in the neighborhood she sends a note to her rival saying that the man is untrue to her and to go to a certain place and she will see him with another woman.
The firm of John Sterling and Sons bad been organized by his father, and when son Gilbert was old enough, he took active part in the management. Gilbert's love for the high life led him away from his duties, and it was nothing unusual for him to spend six nights out of the week with questionable company. Early one morning, intoxicated, Gilbert finds his way to his home. His father reprimands him and finally puts him out of the house, telling him "never to return."
Broncho Billy, a doctor and minister in the far west, is overwhelmed with grief one evening when he returns to his home to find a note from his wife stating that she could not bear the loneliness any longer and had gone to town with the man she loved. A few years later she is forced to her bed where she finally dies of a broken heart. Broncho had been told of her condition and hastens to her in time to kiss and forgive her. The negligent husband returns and Broncho Billy forgetting himself, is about to slay the man, when he suddenly remembers the note his wife had left for him, with these words, "Never forget your duty to your God."
For five years Dorothy had put up with her husband although all his refinement, delicacy and love had long since been drowned in drink. Dorothy had reached the turning point. She answered an advertisement calling for a leading woman to accompany a repertoire show west. She was given the position and that night left.
Jim Woods, a tractable old sheep runner, dwells with his daughter, Beth, in a mountain cabin and does his best to keep his wandering flocks from infringing upon the meadows claimed by the cattlemen.
Marguerite becomes weary as the hours and the Overland Limited roll on. Her trip from New York to the far west was a tedious one, and it is with a sigh of relief that she steps from the observation platform to pluck some flowers. The train had stopped for water. Marguerite wanders into the woods and when she returns, discovers that the train had pulled off. She is alone in a new country, without friends or funds.
A man is a fugitive from the law. A reward of $2,000 is offered for his capture. A large posse is on his trail. Weary, hungry and haunted, the refugee is slowly but surely being hemmed in.
John Wilson had driven the stagecoach for years. When his daughter, Marguerite, became old enough, he allowed her to make an occasional trip with him. It was when she was about 19 that she had the terrible experience. Her father and the express messenger bad gone into the general store. Marguerite remained on the coach to watch the horses, four of them. A shooting contest a few feet away frightened the horses and they bolted. On a gallop they dashed down the road. Marguerite screamed for her life.
Broncho Billy is a typical bad man. The story opens with him shooting up a small town in the west, and scaring the inhabitants nearly to death. The sheriff with his deputies order him out of the country. Sunday morning, the congregation is in church singing. Boardman, another bad man, and his protégés, break up the meeting. The preacher is ousted.
Broncho Billy, an express messenger, saved the life of Geraldine Burke, a school teacher. They learned to love each other and later married. One day, the village gossip informed some of the cowpunchers about town that Geraldine was entertaining a gentleman in her home. Broncho Billy was soon given the news and determined to settle with the critter immediately
Thomas Lattier is a well-to-do westerner in the cattle business. One fine day he sells a herd of cattle, receiving for it cash payment in bills of large denomination. He proceeds to town alone to deposit it in his bank. Two bad men, Bretall and Hayes, have learned of the deal and trail him with a view to securing the money.
Jack Holmes, a squatter, and his daughter, Margaret, settle on land owned by Harry Rawlins. Broncho Billy, gunman, is engaged by Rawlins to eject the squatter or put him out of the way. Broncho is wounded by a half-breed and Margaret nurses him back to health. The gunman then refuses to turn Holmes out.