General Gordon, of the Federal army, receives a message from General Grant, telling him to intercept important dispatches "from Lee to Webber, carried over wires" in Gordon's vicinity. Lieutenant Barrett assumes the task, takes his instruments and sets out. Colonel Webber, of the Confederate army, has a daughter Edith. Lieutenant Fairfax aspires to her hand, but his attentions only annoy her.
Jack, Alice and Dandy are a well assorted trio. Jack is handsome, Alice sweet and Dandy is the best horse and friend a man ever had. Dandy takes the honors and a blue ribbon at the rodeo. Old Bill, the foreman, retires and Jack is given his position. Everyone is satisfied but Pedro, who treasures a grudge against the handsome Jack. His dislike turns into hate when Jack chastises the Mexican for ill-treating a horse. He seeks out the Indians and incites them to help him steal some of the Bar "B" horses.
James Morley, superintendent of the Crown Hill oil refinery, is unable to cope with the rough element in the works. Jack Hartway asks for a position, and Mr. Hastings discharges Morley. Hartway is duly installed as the new superintendent, and his first act is to put up a sign that Rooney, the bully, has formerly resented. Rooney tears the sign down, goes to the office to confront Hartway, is knocked down, and is made to nail the sign up again.
The sheriff, Dan Beckham, and his deputy, Bud Cameron, are posting signs offering a reward for the capture of Cheyenne Harry, accused of holding up a Wells Fargo shipment. Shortly after they have tacked the sign to a tree Cheyenne Harry removes it.
Impending trouble with the sheep herders, who are encroaching on his range, causes Ace Brent, owner of vast California interests, to warn his daughter Barbara to postpone her visit to the ranch. But Barbara is made of sterner stuff, and, following a heated discussion with her admirer, John Wallace, over woman's equality with man in the business world, she declares she will disregard the warning telegram and be at her father's side should trouble come.
"Sidewinder Steve" returns to civilization to find that his ore specimens show he has discovered a turquoise mine. He wires his friend, Ace Brent, the capitalist, who has a half-interest in his discoveries, to furnish him with money to make the trip back across the desert to officially stake his claim. But "Lonney" Smith, telegraph operator at the town and secret spy for The Syndicate, Brent's rivals, informs his employers of the new "strike," and they dispatch their agent Meyers to thwart Brent. The latter, recovering from injuries received in a previous encounter with sheep herders, consents to allow Barbara to handle the affair. Her admirer, John Wallace, follows her to the desert town, fearing for her safety. The action then develops into a thrilling three-cornered race across the desert between Barbara and John, Lonney and Meyers, and a gang of local adventurers headed by "Dry Wash" Sexton, proprietor of the "saloon and hotel."
"Snake" Matthews is the leader of a notorious gang of outlaws. "Shifty" is the laughing stock of the bunch and never has he been known to strike back or resent anything. The gang plan a particularly bold hold-up of the stage, as there are rumors that a large shipment of bullion is on the way. "Shifty" is among those who are to protect the hold-up men.
Tom Horn is known throughout the cow country as a hard worker and a hard player. Tom is the leader of a gang. The Buzzard stumbles across oil indications on a homestead occupied by an old man and his daughter. Tom's party agrees it will be a good scheme to jump the claim, and they set out.
Black La Rue was born on the Mexican border in times of raids and fights. His father was killed in one of the fights. The circumstances of his birth have in some strange way affected his character so that he can never see a fight without having an irresistible desire to join the fray.
Hell's Crown, a town where law and order are as scarce as preachers, is ruled by "Chuck" Wells, a former gun man. He has a dupe in Blaze, the terror of the town, and holds him by keeping him well supplied with money. A sheriff is appointed at Carson City on account of the horse rustlers.
Two road agents hold up the stagecoach and rob the passengers. In making their getaway, one of the road agents is shot by the stage driver. They stop at a lonely cabin, where a miner's widow lives with her little daughter, and ask for aid.
Out of the talk at the Sportsmen's Club arises a wager between the globe-trotter and his friend, who bets that he will not be able, within a fixed time, to find his way out of an isolated mountain location to which he will lead him.
Dismissed from the church because of his seemingly undue intimacy with the schoolteacher, the young minister becomes an evangelist and, after an incident in which he thrashes the drunken sheriff, is appointed sheriff by the mayor. In the girl's home he sees a picture of her father, whom he recognizes as identical with that on a circular calling for the arrest of Idaho Mac, a notorious desperado. He promises the girl that he will never use his gun against her father, but sends his deputy, the ex-sheriff, to apprehend Idaho Mac at the border. The bandit, badly wounded by the deputy's bullets, reaches his daughter's house, and she thinks the sheriff false to his word.
The hero's mother is desperately ill and the young fellow, while going afoot for a doctor, stops a mail carrier and forces him- at the point of the pistol- to give up his horse.
Rodeo king Bill Hammon invites the owner of a Wild West show to give an exhibition at the ranch. A pair of jewel thieves uses the event to "ply their trade", prompting the show's owner, a radio champion, to go after them.