This documentary traces the history of the B-Western from it's silent movie origins to its demise in the early 1950s. The film contains a large number of scenes from early silents and seldom seen films, as well as old photographs of the stars and one-sheet advertisements for lost films.

Thad Lawson arrives in Oak Valley to avenge the murder of his brother, the local sheriff. He learns that Jack Rand, powerful overlord of the town is to blame. After Rand murders newspaper publisher Jordan Webster, Thad sets out to put him behind bars.

The hero, Texas Ranger Larry Whalen (Charles Starrett), is on the trail of a mysterious outlaw leader.

Horse breeders Adams and Brock are vying for the Army contract. When Adams is killed trying to ride his horse Trigger, Roy saves the horse from being shot. He trains him and then plans to ride him in the race to win the contract.

Sea Captain Windwagon Smith hits Westport, Kansas, the starting point of the old Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, and is quickly the laughing stock of the town; instead of traveling in the usual oxen-drawn covered wagon, he is at the helm and wheel of a Contestoga-type wagon with a full set of sails. He plans to go to Oregon by taking advantage of the prairie winds. First, he wins over the town mayor, falls in love with the mayor's beautiful daughter, Molly Crum, and then secures financial backing from the townspeople. He sets sail across the plains, with Molly Crum as a covered-wagon stowaway, and a Kansas twister looming on the horizon. And, then, the wind hits the sails. And the fan, too, if he had had one.

Diamonds are being smuggled across the border from Mexico in a specially made shoe of a palomino mare. One of the smugglers is killed when the mare runs off. The sheriff blames Trigger for the death. To keep his horse from being destroyed, Roy confesses and goes to jail. The smugglers buy Trigger and put him to work smuggling diamonds. The mare, who had earlier heard a trist with Trigger, foals Trigger, Jr. who Roy, finally out of jail, uses to help capture the smugglers.

Evil Grant Withers lets a killer horse loose to ruin valuable horses on nearby ranches. He hopes to shake down the ranchers for his "protection". Roy tracks down the bad guys, but is suddenly trapped by them. Peter Miles, a boy terrified of horses, overcomes his fear and rides for help to save the day.

US Border Patrolman Roy Rogers is assigned to prevent a herd of diseased cattle from crossing over from Mexico.

In Roy Rogers' Down Dakota Way, the deadly hoof-and-mouth disease has struck the herd owned by evil rancher H. T. McKenzie (Roy Barcroft). To avoid an expensive quarantine on his stock, McKenzie plans to murder the local veterinarian (Emmet Vogan) before the latter can report his findings to the government. Rogers manages to straighten out the situation by appealing to the sensibilities of the aunt (Elizabeth Risdon) of McKenzie's hotheaded hired assassin (Byron Barr). The film also bears several musical numbers from Roy, Dale Evans, and Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage.

A drought is about to end the cattle business. The owner of a canning factory wants to buy all the remaining cattle cheap. He plans to ruin the cattlemen's plans to ship water by train and to seed the clouds for rain. Roy is sent by a packing house to investigate.