Roy is a newspaper reporter. He goes to Cheyenne to cover the activities of supposed bad guy Arapahoe Brown. Roy, of course, discovers who the real bad guy is.
At the Texas Centennial in Dallas Autry confuses two girls by being himself and his own stunt double. When cowboy star Tom Ford disappears, Wilson gets his double Gene Autry to impersonate him. But Ford owes gangster Rico $10,000 and Rico arrives to collect. He fails to get the money but learns that Autry is an impersonator and now blackmails Wilson and his movie studio. Original version runs 71 minutes, edited version runs 59 minutes.
Horse breeders Adams and Brock are vying for the Army contract. When Adams is killed trying to ride his horse Trigger, Roy saves the horse from being shot. He trains him and then plans to ride him in the race to win the contract.
In this Roy Rogers entry, featuring a song written by Oklahoma Governor Roy J. Turner (making him and Lousiania's Jimmie Davis and Texas' W.E. "Pappy" O'Daniel possibly the only state governors to write songs used in a western), Flying U ranch owner Sam Talbot is killed by a fall from a horse. St. Louis reporter Connie Edwards comes to check a rumor that he might have been murdered. She goes to Roy Rogers, editor of the local newspaper, and he takes her to the reading of Talbot's will. The ranch is left to Talbot's 12-year-old ward, Duke Lowery, much to the dismay of Talbot's niece, Jan Holloway. After some attempts on Duke's life, Roy finally proves that Jan, Steve McClory and coroner Jim Judnick had Talbot killed and are conspiring to do the same for Duke, making Jan the last heir.
Kent wants the Allen ranch. So he has Steve and his men rustle their cattle using Pete as an informant. When the Trigger Pals Lucky, Stormy, and Fuzzy fight back, Kent frames Stormy for the rustling.
When Tasker kills Roy Rogers he takes one of his young sons. Fifteen years later the other son Roy arrives buying a ranch in the valley where Tasker now controls the water supply. Roy organizes the ranchers for a showdown with Tasker not knowing that his brother is Tasker's chief henchman.
Before he was killed, Martin hid a half million dollars worth of bonds on his ranch. Brainard, who killed him, Inspector Carson posing as Sam Brown, and Martin's niece Margaret all want the ranch, and it's being sold at auction.
Foxes are mysteriously disappearing from fox farms and Agent Don has been sent to investigate. Brad and Pete are the culprits and they are using a dog that can climb the security fence to steal the foxes. Don brings a dog with him and when Carol sees a dog stealing a fox, she accuses Don.
When the showboat hits town, two men use the parade as a distraction to rob the bank. Their accomplice is Pop, the clown from the showboat. He leaves the money on the boat and tells his daughter Patsy to bring it to him at a later stop on the river. Gene's investigation of a bank robbery takes him to the showboat where he becomes a performer. Gene and Frog try to find the money while helping Patsy and her father.
Chet Kasedon is after the Indians hidden gold mine but Chief Moya will not reveal it's location. He has also hired mining engineers Gale and Mortimer to locate the mine. When Gale sees Kasedon's cruelty to Moya, he switches sides.
Jean Loring has her men illegally killing and selling game. Roy suspects her and gets himself invited to stay at her ranch. Investigating he finds the freezer where the slaughtered game are kept. But he is caught, tied up, and left to freeze.
Gangster Chandler and his accomplice Tracy arrive at a dude ranch. Cowboy Kentucky arrives at the same time. When Tracy double-crosses his boss and has the stage robbed, Kentucky finds the outlaws and brings them in. Tracy frames him for the murder of the driver but his pal Cactus gets him out of jail. He returns just as Chandler shoots Tracy and Kentucky finds himself arrested for another murder.
When his sister Betsy packs up and leaves the family's Montana cattle ranch to find fame and fortune in Hollywood, her brother Jim decides to follow after her to make sure she doesn't get into trouble.
While trailing Forest Ranger Charles Carter, who is suspected of permitting lumber man Henry Mitchell to cut restricted timber, Gene fires at a dangerous mountain lion and apparently kills Carter. Actually, Bill Wright, Mitchell's associate, killed Carter because the ranger had discovered tussock moth infestation in the forest, and if the infestation was not reported, the trees would die and have to be cut, thereby profiting Mitchell and Wright. In order to compensate the best he can, Gene sells his sportsman's camp and gives the money to Carter's daughter Helen . En route to Texas, Gene discovers the infestation and is assigned by the Forest Department to supervise the program of spraying the area with DDT from the air. After the first day of spraying, the DDT is blamed by furious stock men for the many animals found dead of poisoning.
Wanted by the law in New York, Dr. Steve Kells heads west and arrives in an area controlled by an outlaw gang known as the Border Legion. When the gang's boss is wounded, they kidnap Kells and force him to remove the bullet. Not allowed to leave and being a wanted man, he joins the gang. Now wanted as a gang member also, he nevertheless plans a raid that will lead the entire gang into a trap.