A young cowboy falls in love with the daughter of a rich rancher, and they plan to marry. However, the cowboy winds up getting in a fight with the girl's cousin and is forced to shoot him. Believing that he has killed the man and will be prosecuted for murder, the cowboy flees and ends up working on a ranch in Oregon, where his cowboy skills impress the owner to the extent that he is picked as the ranch's entrant in the World Rodeo Championships held in nearby Pendleton--a competition in which his fiancé's ranch is also entered.

Lure of the Circus is a 1918 American adventure film serial directed by J. P. McGowan.

Clarence, an eastern college youth masquerading as a mild, inoffensive dandy, joins a Wild West show where he clashes with the leading lady, "Calamity" Jane, a man-hater.

A child picked up on the desert by the cowboy hero is brought to town on the eve of prohibition enforcement. The child is put to bed and is laboring with the Lord's prayer when he sticks at "kingdom come." The cowboy goes into the saloon and asks if anyone there knows what comes after "kingdom come." He is greeted with much laughter and no information. A dancer who turns out to be the mother of the child, which has been living with its grandfather, repeats the words of the prayer, and the child goes to sleep in peace. A romance between the cowboy and the dancer develops.

Slim Cole, a notorious outlaw, shoots at mining executive Jim King, missing him but wounding Flora Dale in the shoulder. Jim takes care of the injured girl, who, when she recovers, goes to work in his office. Unknown to Jim, Flora is the daughter of an outlaw whom Cole had killed and has secretly vowed revenge against Jim.

Jubilo, a hobo, witnesses a robbery, finds work on Judge Hardy’s farm, and foils the vengeful machinations of a sinister villain.

Ben Johnson, a sheepherder who hates sheep, is instructed by his employer, Vasquez, to escort beautiful Rena Newhall to her father's ranch. On the journey, Rena is abducted by Zach Marlin, who takes her to Buck Brent, an outlaw who has sworn vengeance on Jim Newhall, Rena's father, for sending him to jail years before. Ben later poses as an outlaw, joins Brent's band, and takes a hand in rustling the elder Newhall's cattle. On that raid, Ben contrives to get himself captured and convinces Rena's father both of his own good intentions and of the treachery of Marlin. Ben rejoins Brent's gang, but he is soon exposed as a fraud by Marlin.

Verdugo finds a young boy on the desert and raises him as his son. Now a grown man, Dan is framed for a stagecoach robbery by Brent, the same man that shot his father and tried to take him and his mother away twenty years earlier.

Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey stars in this 15 chapter action serial, of which portions of reels 1, 2, and 4 survive. In the serial he plays the star fullback of his college's football team who gets drawn into an adventure when he stops to rescue a young woman from some thugs on a country road. It includes a gag featuring an exploding football. The rest of the cast includes Lon Chaney, Edgar Kennedy, Bull Montana, Josie Sedgwick and Herschel Mayall.

Orphan newsboy Michael O'Halloran "adopts" Peaches, a little crippled girl, when her grandmother's death leaves her alone in the world. A chance acquaintance with lawyer Douglas Bruce draws Michael into contact with the Hardings, a farm couple, who bring Michael and Peaches to the country. Wholesome food and good fresh air give Peaches the strength to walk. Also friends of Douglas Bruce are the James Minturns, a wealthy young couple whose marriage breaks up over Nellie Minturn's neglect of their children for a society life. Nellie eventually realizes her error, devotes herself to hospital work, and is reunited with James while bird-calling in the woods.