Ex-Pony Express rider Autry ties to protect his US mail franchise as the Pony Express gives way to stage coach mail and the telegraph. Gene's last film appearance as a singing cowboy.
While Sam Houston in in the nation's capital trying to get Texas into the Union, his aide is trying to impose a self-serving tax on the use of the Santa Fe trail. The lady owner of a wagon train is using the trail, and a Texas Ranger comes to her assistance.
Manzanita Springs ia a combination small airline and spa and Vance Brados wants it. He pays their mechanic to have the planes run out of fuel so his men can rob the gold shipments and kill the pilots. After Sheriff Roy Rogers catches the mechanic, Roy plans one more gold shipment to get proof and this time his men will be ready. But it looks like Roy's plan will fail when Brados suspects a trap and call off the raid.
When Moreland's henchman attack Bob Horner the Range Busters break it up. Horner dies but they get the baby Moreland was after. He must have it to become it's guardian and take control of the Horner ranch. When the henchmen catch up with Alibi, they take the baby cradle not realizing Alibi has substituted his dummy Elmer. Crash having evidence Moreland is the one they want, now has a plan to expose him.
Storm is out to wreck Ace's stage line. When Tex arrives to help Ace, Storm brings in hired killer Mule Bates. But Tex and Bates know each other and the two devise a plan to fool Storm.
The famous western fiction writer Bob Morris arrives at the Henderson ranch. He quickly realizes the hanging, runaway horses, and the shootout are fakes for his benefit. But when a real robbery takes place he thinks it's another fake.
James Craig is torn between his criminal career as the masked bandit named the "El Paso Kid," and the life of a law-abiding citizen with his long-suffering wife Zoe. He repeatedly tells Zoe, "just one more time," but he is unable to stop which angers her greatly. However, he does have brief moments of heroics such as when he helps the Widow Weeks save her farm.
During the Civil War, Union Corporal MacDonald is entrusted with a large shipment of gold. He decides to keep the cargo, and stashes it for later rescue. He is the only one who knows where it's buried, but is killed. A Union Lieutenant and McDonald's two sons race to find out where the gold is buried.
Bill Nolan, Sheriff of Ockland, receives a telegram informing him of the arrival of a stagecoach with federal bank securities. Together with Judge Finley he organizes the custody of the stagecoach but it is attacked anyway and suspicion falls on the sheriff by his strange actions alone. The confidence of his assistants is weakened and everything gets complicated when he is accused of rape and one of his assistants is found dead. His only hope is to discover the masked bandit.
The purchase and sale of ranches that occupy land where the railway has to pass causes various problems. Also, a gold mine in these lands creates several disputes.
Gary Gray arrives only to be caught up in the rustling activities of Ben Holt and his gang. First Holt brands him for rustling and then frames him for murder. Proven innocent, Gary foils the gang's stage holdup and then heads after Holt whom he now knows to be the real killer. But Holt knows he is coming and waits unseen in ambush. Written by Maurice VanAuken