Young Angus Burke accidentally shoots the sheriff, who is leading a posse to get the boy's father, a thief. Angus' mother dies, and he is taken to trial alone. Found not guilty, he is given a job with the local newspaper office. He leaves when several citizens object to his presence--to return several years later. He takes over the newspaper and saves the townspeople from a gang of crooks.

Thurlow Michael Barclay Jr., a bookish mathematics professor, is asked by his father to inspect his mine in Kentucky to determine why it's failing. He discovers love with a local girl named Sally and a plot to destroy the mine by local villains.