Newspaper editor Bill Temple arrives in Boom Town planning to expose Jim Blane as a crook. When Blane's henchman Buck fails to kill Temple, Blane prepares to flee with his money. But a sudden announcement of a gold strike empties the town. Blane heads after his henchmen who have taken his money and Temple heads after Blane.
Having helped his father escape the law, Jim Curtis heads north with the Marshal chasing him. He and his pal Snicker elude the Marshall by changing clothes with two actors. Now forced to do vaudeville skits, Jim finds the man responsible for his and his father's problem working in the same saloon.
Joe has Cowboy-Race Driver Brent drive him to the border where his men slug Brent, and he shoots Stafford and takes his bonds. Brent's old friend Chuck arrives and the two head out to find the gang and recover the bonds.
When the Nevada Kid gets caught in a stage robbery, the gang leader Cherokee gets him released by forging a petition to the Governor. The Kid tries to go straight but the stage he is guarding gets robbed. When the Sheriff jails Cherokee who was not in on the robbery, the Kid gets caught effecting Cherokee's escape and finds himself in jail again.
Bart Morgan controls the town of Cactus City and is keeping all men away from Jane Rankin. When Johnny Day arrives and takes an interest in Jane, Morgan tries to kick him out. Johnny refuses to go and the stage is set for a showdown.
A disgraced former District Attorney plots his revenge on the members of a criminal gang who had him framed and sent to prison.
Bob Carson and sidekick Grizzly take a job driving a stage for a line that is being repeatedly robbed. The culprits place a large box on the stage in which Runt can hide and steal the gold without the driver or guard knowing it. When Bob realizes what is happening, he replaces Runt in the box in hope of catching the outlaws.
A reformed gunfighter battles a crooked sheriff who used to be a member of his gang.
Brokaw, the Polka Dot Bandit, asks Farrell to help rob Wells Fargo. Farrell plans to capture Brokaw for the reward but is assumed to be one of the bandits and shot. Brent captures Brokaw, but Ann thinking her father is in on the robbery lets him go. Brent catches up with him only to be framed when the polka dot bandanna is found on his saddle.
Twin sisters, one good and honest and sweet, and the other given to totin' pistols and pulling robberies, keep confusing a detective about which one he his chasing for what, since he has different reasons for chasing both.
A government agent is sent to a tough frontier town to arrest & bring back one of the most ruthless criminals in the region.
When his Ranger father is shot down and seriously wounded by rustlers, young Bob Baxter is given a Ranger's badge and a delivery to town of the rustlers.
A cowboy detective goes up against a gang of big-city thugs trying to set up a protection racket out west.
For revenge the outlaw Morgan steals the Carruthers young son. Seventeen years later Carruthers arrives in the valley where Morgan, his gang, and the now grown Bob hide. After Morgan shoots Tracy, he tells Bob that Carruthers did it and sends Bob out after him. But unknown to Bob, Morgan has put blanks in his gun.
Reporter Speed Morgan helps Flash Barrett escape from the police and this gets him into Flash's gang where he poses as a gangster. Flash and his gang head west guning for Bill Miller who failed to send some diamonds on to Flash. Speed hopes to bring Flash to justice but is in trouble when his true identity is revealed.
The Rangers in New Mexico are being disbanded but Bob Houston gets them to make one more ride. They go after the outlaw gang led by Hashknife. They catch Hashknife, but he escapes taking Barbara with him and Bob and Slim have to go after him again.
Steele gets into a fight with a ranch foreman, knocking the foreman out. The foreman was supposed to represent the ranch in a prize fight with a middleweight champion. Now Steele finds himself in the fight of his life.
A man escapes from prison, then joins up with a gang of stage robbers while at the same time working as a deputy in a distant town, hoping to ultimately find the outlaw who killed his father during a robbery years ago.
As Powers is dying he tells Lee to look for a man with a girl named Mitzi. Heading north by dog sled as Curly the Kid, he finds her and her friend Lucky. But Flash is another friend and Lee is in trouble when his true identity becomes known.
Restored by the George Eastman House in 2001, this 1928 serial was considered a “last hurrah” for the silent-era serial, and brought together some of the biggest names of the era: director J.P. McGowan, actors Francis Ford and Joe Bonomo (a carnival strongman-turned-actor), producer Trem Carr (who would later help found Monogram Pictures), and a slew of silent-era supporting icons such as Ruth Hiatt, Grace Cunard, and more. Chapter names like “The Clutching Claw,” “The Devil’s Dice, “Galloping Fury,” and “The Invisible Hand” offer all one needs to know of the film’s concerns: to promise and deliver as much action and suspense as possible, and move our intrepid hero and heroine from one perilous situation to another. One of the biggest stars of the early silent era and a successful serials director in his own right, Francis Ford was the brother of director John Ford.
