Jim Matthews, express agent in Red Rock, Arizona, and his daughter Alice, are watching anxiously over the bedside of Mrs. Matthews, who is very ill. An express box of money is now left by the stage and Matthews is ordered to guard it overnight. The "Arizona Kid," a notorious bandit, who has followed the stage and watched while they left the box, now gallops back to the rendezvous of his pals, tells them of the easy chance to rob the office and they start at once. Meanwhile Alice has sent her father for a doctor and is all alone with her sick mother.

May Barclay, returning from the east, is met at the station by her father, a wealthy cattle king. On passing the town saloon, two members of Buck Brady's gang, known and feared throughout the country for lawless depredations, see May and determine to steal her and hold her for ransom.

Walter Johnson, a young college chap in the east, receives word that he has been left a legacy of one million dollars by an eccentric uncle, providing he marries the old fellow's niece who lives in Mustang, Arizona.

Seth Perkins, a prospector, has two daughters. Mabel and Vedah. Vedah is a cripple, and the town doctor writes her father it will be necessary to operate to cure her and the expense will be one hundred dollars. Perkins has no such sum and is in despair.

Robert Hammond is the manager of the Mexican branch of the Manhattan Oil Company, in Tionana, Mexico, where he lives with his daughter, Elaine. He discharges from the oil works a worthless Mexican named Tonio. Shortly before a new superintendent, in the person of Boyd Norton, is sent from New York to take charge of the oil wells, under the direction of Hammond. Norton meets Hammond's daughter, Elaine. They are mutually attracted and ultimately engaged to be married. Norton is suddenly recalled to New York, and during his absence a group of bandit soldiers, under the leadership of the discharged Tonio make a raid upon Tionana, in the course of which Hammond is slain and Elaine is kidnapped by the bandits.

Blasé Jim Alridge, weary of city life, coming to his apartment, finds an invitation from an old chum, Dick Freeman, to come and visit him at his lodge in the wilds. A week later the two are reviewing the days of long ago before the fire log. While hunting a short time after, Jim meets Marion, a girl of the forest, and is fascinated by her strange type of femininity. He teaches her to read and write, and without considering the difference in their tastes and social standing asks her to marry him.

Dr. Mureaux, a widower, has an only daughter, Ruth. One night when her father is away, a burglar breaks into the house. Ruth displays great courage, winning the admiration of the intruder. She questions him about his mode of living and finally induces the man to promise that he will return in a few days when she will do all in her power to get him an honest job.

An elderly actor who lives with his wife and daughter is dismissed from his acting job because he is considered too old. On his way home from the theatre he panics at the thought of telling his family the bad news and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. His daughter's beau accidentally gives him a five dollar gold piece, thinking that it was a smaller coin. A chase ensues with a policeman, the daughter, and her beau in hot pursuit. When caught he is recognized by his shocked daughter, but is quickly forgiven by all. Meanwhile the actor hired to replace him has already been fired and a messenger is dispatched to rehire the Old Actor to the delight of his wife, daughter, and fellow actors.

When New York City police officer O'Malley learns of a young man who is about to embark on a life of crime by taking part in a robbery, he takes the boy aside and tells him the story of Boomerang Bill, another wanna-be gangster who wanted to be a big shot in the New York crime scene. It seems that Bill fell for a pretty young dance-hall girl, and went up against local gang boss Tony the Wop when he insulted her. Tony, who never forgot a slight, found a way to make things very, very tough for Boomerang Bill, in a way that he never saw coming.

Percy and Harold are rivals and both take the object of their affections for an outing.