Urged on by his wife and daughter and against his better judgment, Texas cattle-baron Maverick Brander, finds himself in Washington D. C. as an elected congressman. However, when the Brander family arrives in Washington, they are met at every junction by snobbery and ridicule. Then an investigative committee arrives from Texas to check up on how Maverick is representing their interests.

To prevent David's widowed mother, Elizabeth, from being influenced by her son against their fake tropical rubber plantation investment, the promoters trick David into managing the plantation in Mexico. Seeking to prove his worth after a failed marriage proposal, David travels to the tropics. There, he encounters the brutal reality of the rubber slavery system. He meets Ludwig Hertzer (the villainous "Planter," played by Tyrone Power Sr.), a feared and hated man who runs a slave-labor-based operation. David also encounters Senora Morales and her daughter, Consuela, who are involved in the slave trade. David discovers his family's investment is actually a "rubbish heap." He attempts to warn his mother via cable, but the message is intercepted by Hertzer for his own gain.