The unscrupulous attempts by speculators Dr. West and Jim Prince to have a railroad pass through lower California are met with opposition by Spanish landowners led by Dona Maria Saltonstall, who tries flirting with West to restore their property. Pereo, a religious fanatic who works for Dona Maria, believes in the curse of the Gray Wolf's Ghost: if a member of Dona Maria's family mates with an alien, fortune and life will be lost. Meanwhile, West's son Harry, whom he deserted years before, comes to avenge the wrong done to his mother.
Two prospectors, one the father of Sky "Lightning" Bryce and the other the father of Kate Arnold, find a large gold deposit belonging to an Indian tribe. They head for home but each sends a note to their respective off-springs advising them of their good fortune. One of the fathers conceives a plan of taking a dagger and wrapping a piece of string around the blade, after which he prints on the string with a lead pencil, the exact location of their find. If something happens to them, the string goes to the son and the knife to the daughter. That night an Indian approaches their camp and blows some mysterious wolf powder which causes a man to see wolves in place of human beings. Lightning's father see his partner as a wolf and stabs him to death; later he is brought into town in a dying condition but before dying, hands the knife and the string over to the sheriff with instructions to deliver to Lightning and Kate.
Billy Porter sells his ranch and travels to San Francisco to try his hand in the business world. But he's barely off the ferryboat before he gets waylaid by a little newsboy and the boy's pugilist father, "Knockout" McClusky.
Jack becomes an outlaw after being wrongly accused of killing a young Kootenai chieftain. He's known as "Genesee Jack" and prefers to live among Native Americans, but he eventually falls in love with a white woman named Rachel. The film explores themes of justice, reconciliation, and the complexities of relationships between settlers and Native Americans.
Buck Duane guns down the man who killed his father and flees from the law. He rescues a girl he once loved from outlaws, but the wife of outlaw chief has her own designs on him.
A cowboy matches the description of the man who robbed the local hotel--both are 6'4". When a young woman is robbed, suspicion falls on the cowboy again. However, he discovers that the actual culprits are a local gang headed by the sheriff. He sets out to capture the robbers and clear his name.
Dreamer dairyman Phineas Dobbs of Cow Hollow suddenly acquires a fortune when oil is discovered on his ranch, and celebrates by throwing a party for the whole town. One day a young woman comes to town, delayed by train trouble. Dobbs rescues her from the town bully, and agrees to follow her to San Francisco.
When cattle rancher Cheyenne Harry Henderson discovers that rustlers are attacking his herd, he informs Yucca County's sheriff but learns that the lawman is in cahoots with the outlaws.
Madge Nelson is ordered to move to the countryside for health reasons, but her finances prevent her from making the move from the city, so she answers an advertisement for a mail-order bride for miner Hugo Ennis in Nevada.
War hero Captain November Jones tries to sneak into his hometown of Gold City, Nevada undetected but when he rescues a child from being run over by a train he’s recognized and obliged to receive the town's congratulations. Meanwhile, unscrupulous stockbroker Samuel Barnes and adventuress Teddy Craig are trying to get control of the Bluebird Lode from New Yorker Jackson J. Joseph, who is coming West to meet his daughter Nedra. Teddy tries to ensnare November to help fight Joseph, claiming he's trying to take her mine, but he refuses. Teddy's accusation of Jones's cowardice does not bother him until he falls in love with Nedra, who shuns him, believing Teddy's rumor. When Mr. Joseph is kidnapped and Jones saves him Nedra learns the truth and agrees to marry him.