Elsie's idea of a real man was a dummy dressed like a cowboy, reckless and wild and woolly. Wallace Carey, a gallant city businessman, rich, attractive, and well dressed, was in love with her, but she wanted a real cowboy for a husband.
Luke Barns obtains employment with a moving picture concern as a cowboy and declares himself capable of performing any or all feats such as cowboys are supposed to perform.
A Mexican leaves his wife and family with hunger staring them in the face to get a job on the "Rocking Chair" Ranch, so that he can supply them with life's necessities. Mexicans are not popular at the ranch and the new man is bullied and persecuted until he tries to kill his foreman, whereupon he is kicked out. He plans to burn the ranch buildings out of revenge.
Harding Martin and David Patrick are both desperately in love with Elsie Johnson. Each tries to gain some advantage over his rival. Pretty Elsie coquettishly enjoys their rivalry and fosters it.
Esther Lee, a western girl, attending a college in the east, becomes engaged to Harold Shaw, a young collegian. She goes home to spend her vacation on the ranch, and arrives just after the election which has made her father the county sheriff.
Old Si Spunk is dying, and leaves his shack and acres in Montana to Elizabeth Spunk, his niece, in the East. A cowboy finds a photograph of a fierce looking old maid with the name "Elizabeth Spunk" on the back. Thinking this is the niece, Tom and Jerry, two of the cowboys, hit upon an idea to drive her out of the country.
Mrs. Murphy runs a boarding house in a small western town and has trouble in keeping a cook, for the cowboy boarders insist upon eloping with them. After losing two cooks, Mrs. Murphy induces a couple of the cowboys to try their skill, but this does not prove successful. An employment agency is importuned to send Mrs. Murphy a girl cook.
Hiram Flint is about to foreclose a mortgage on widow Wilson's ranch. Maude, the widow's daughter, pleads with Flint for further time. He says he might consider it and tries to make love to the girl, who spurns him. This enrages the lawyer, who says that if the mortgage is not paid by four o'clock that day, he will take the place.
Tom Wallace lives with his uncle, John Higgins, and Tom is the sole heir to his uncle's wealth. Joe Watkins, the sheriff, and Higgins are life-long enemies, and when Higgins discovers that Tom is in love with Fern Watkins, he threatens to disinherit Tom.
Miss Satterly, the new schoolteacher, is loved by all the cowboys of the "Flying U" ranch. Weary is shy and only makes the acquaintance of the pretty schoolteacher by main force on the part of his cowboy companions.
Tom Travis, a bad man, comes to New Mexico. He sees Vicky, the sheriff's daughter, playing a part for a motion picture company. The action calls for Vicky to be overcome by the villain and thrown on a horse. Tom, not understanding the action, blazes away at the villain, and the bullet passes through the actor's hat, chasing the horse upon which Vicky is riding. Tom, coming up with Vicky, believes he has saved her. The director and Vicky's father think Tom a great actor. The sheriff, however, discovers that Tom has the reputation of a "bad" man, and orders him to stay away.
Ranch foreman Tom Snow is being hounded by sheriff Luke Fisher and his deputy, Brad Foster. The pair are really cattle rustlers, and they're trying to pin the blame on Snow. Snow escapes from them and leads them on a death-defying escape over a chasm.
Jim Rose is a young ranch hand in love with the boss' daughter, Mabel. The rancher, King Brentwood, who is being sued for breach of promise by a local widow, opposes the match. Learning that the annoying woman is coming to pay him a visit, Brentwood has his men fake a holdup of her stagecoach.