Through the efforts of the Rev. John Drummond, who comes to a small western mining town with his little boy, all the saloons are closed. Jim Howe and his daughter, Nell, being unable to carry on a liquor business in the town, move to the mountains, where he runs an illicit still and continues to supply whiskey to the Indians. The sheriff gets on his trail and he is soon placed in the custody of the law. Nell, determining to avenge herself for the capture of her father, fires n shot into a party of hostile Indians, secreting herself in a bush as she does so. The Indians, seeing the soldiers coming, and thinking that they fired the shot, rush at them, but are defeated. This plan of revenge having failed, she makes her way to the minister's home, but is prevented from doing any harm to him by the maternal instinct which rises in her when she sees his little boy praying for his mother in heaven.
The tenderfoot came into camp with his ill-gotten money intending to purchase a claim. The faker salted a claim, hoping thereby to secure the money. But the gambler got ahead of him through cheating at cards. Later the tenderfoot sought to regain his money and in the struggle it fell into worthier hands.
John Harlan, a crazy prospector living with his daughter in Nevada, accidentally discovers gold. He is so enthused over it that he immediately goes to the town saloon, where he informs everybody.
Ben Hart, the youthful mining expert, arrived at Red Rock and promptly sought out pretty Mabel Whitaker and her mother, who had inherited a map purporting to lead to a gold deposit. Ben made an appointment to look at the deposit and did so - quite unaware that Jim Halliday, with two bad pals, kept close watch of his every movement.
David Morgan, a cowpuncher, is informed by Doctor Harding that the former's wife is in a serious condition and must be taken from the high altitude. An Indian horse thief shows David a way to make some money easy. That night, the Indian and the cowpuncher steal two horses. The Indian is captured by Broncho Billy, the sheriff, and squeals on Morgan. Dorothy, the cowpuncher's child, informs her father that a posse is coming up the road. Morgan instructs his child to say nothing to the men concerning his whereabouts. The cowpuncher crawls into the loft and pulls the ladder up after him. Broncho Billy enters, sees Morgan's wife is in a critical condition and asks the child where her father is. She tells him she does not know. The sheriff, hearing a sound above him, is about to fire his revolver into the loft, when the girl confesses that her father is above.
Jim had been away a long time. Pretty Marjie dressed herself in her very best when she heard that the boys had gone to the station to bring home the college chap. Jim arrived, climbed into a ranch outfit and felt at home once more. The boys decided to give him a party.
Steve, ambitious to outstrip his rivals, Slim and Tex, in a race for Betty's hand, orders a dress-snit by mail. The spike-tail is an awful fit and Steve retires from Betty's inspection anything but pleased. He gives the "fixins" to a Mexican, who in turn suffers from the hands of the populace when he makes his appearance in public, and is finally suspiciously pursued by a posse.
Broncho Billy, owner of a saloon in Big Horn City, is trusted implicitly by the miners in the surrounding territory. Several of them have gathered at the bar, when Broncho Billy receives a note, stating that the stage-coach will not stop at Big Horn until the following day. The men request Broncho Billy to keep their gold until the coach arrives.
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.