Pinto Ben is a pink-nosed cow-pony. A hundred head of cattle are rounded up for beef to be shipped alive to Chicago. Ben and his master, with Segundo Jim, are put in charge. In the Chicago stockyards, men who don't know range-bred cattle from a herd of mountain goats, calmly inform Jim and Ben's master that the steers are to be driven into the big pen. At the same instant two or three stock hands run behind the herd and begin shouting and waving their arms to start the cattle. The beasts, a thousand strong, with horns and hoofs beating the air, bellowing their rage, glaring with bloodshot eyes, thunder into the chute. The two men in front prepare for their death ride. Suddenly Pinto Ben flattens himself before a high, iron-bound gate, and leaps. The pony cleans the gate. The great wave of scorching breath falls back on the other side. Ben's master finds himself sitting on the ground, the head of his dying horse in his lap.
Reno Bill, a desperado, discovers the sheriff and the express agent in the act of holding up the stage. The next day Reno Bill is captured by Fred Church and his young assistant, when they find him annoying a pretty young girl. They take him to jail and when the bandit sees the sheriff and agent he contemptuously tells Church of their treachery.
Broncho Billy, the sheriff, is in love with a girl, but another man wins her affections and marries her. He is a worthless sort of fellow, and when Broncho sees him in the saloon, drinking with an outlaw, he gives the bartender orders to sell him no more liquor. This causes a fight, but peace is soon restored.
The successful operations of a lone bandit known as "The Night Hawk" terrorize a frontier town, and when a stranger arrives riding a fine horse, suspicions are aroused and he is mistaken for the criminal.
The year is 1862. The settings. The Canadian northwest. The lure is gold. Nine men, two women (one of them pregnant), and a young boy begin the odyssey which is to change all their lives. Through jungle-like forests, they look for a trail abandoned 10 years before by explorers and fur-traders. It runs out in a beautiful mountain trap, a box canyon with a waterfall. Left leaderless when death strikes, the vulnerable band must find another route. They decide to descend the mighty Fraser river by raft. Those who survive the great Grand Canyon rapids must continue on foot.
There is trouble between the Dunbar brothers when Wally proposes to Bonnie on his brother's behalf only to have her accept him. Their feud is interrupted when they have to go after a con man who has cheated the bank out of $5000 by using a gold brick. With the outlaw captured, Wally now tries to get his brother and Bonnie together.
Cowhand John Marvin, in a cattlemen-vs-sheep-men range war, comes to the aid of a pretty and defenseless young sheepherder, Kate Bowers. This angers the other cattlemen, especially Palque Powell, who employs deceptive methods against Kate, while pretending to help her.
Barr Messenger escapes to Mexico after a frame-up. He is in love with Betty Brownlee, who disappears after $10,000 is stolen from the firm she works for. It is thought she took the money. In Mexico, In Mexico, Barr finds Betty working in a saloon for "Red" McGee, the chief henchman of "Bull" Keeler's (the Kingfish) Kingfisher gang.
The Texas Rangers, led by Tom Wilson, are hot on the trail of the Mexican bootleggers, who have been smuggling whiskey into American territory and supplying it to the Indians.
Bud Harris, a young miner with a reputation for courage, goes prospecting in the desert with Tom Jones in an attempt to locate a turquoise mine. Their water gives out and their horses die on the way. Bud thinks that Tom has water in his canteen and strikes him down.
A drifter nicknamed "Driftin' Sands" is hired by a wealthy rancher to protect his spoiled daughter. Driftin', of course, falls for the lady and is immediately banished from the ranch.
The Banfield Killer returns to face enemies even more sinister than himself: an art dealer, a corrupt policeman, an overly curious journalist, a vengeful man and a professor from Europe stand in the way of Tepes, who seeks to reunite with his mysteriously disappeared daughter.
Rose Boland, a pretty young ranch owner, quarrels with her foreman because she dislikes his attentions. She discharges him from her employ, and her cowboys eject him from the ranch. The disgruntled foreman proceeds to join a band of cattle rustlers and engages with them in the looting of cattle.