The sheriff of Mendocino County receives a letter from Bill Kato, proprietor of a ranch, stating that he is tired of losing his cattle and that if he can't find time to do something in the matter, he will have to see the higher authorities. The sheriff at once starts out on the trail of the rustlers.

Alkali Ike, a cowpuncher, is given his walking papers for neglect of duty. He has little trouble, however, in securing a position on Sophie Clutts' ranch. His trial is a hard and tedious one, the gladiatoress standing over him with a powerful six-shooter, and every time he drops his work, a bullet from the aforementioned piece of artillery hastily reminds him of his necessary toil.

The city girl decides to turn over a new leaf and go west where she can start life anew. Several years later finds her the wife of a minister in a small western town and extremely happy. One day she and her husband find Broncho Billy, an outlaw, lying in the road suffering from a wound. They take him to their home, and while the minister hastens for a doctor, his wife dresses the wound. She steps into an adjoining room, where she is confronted by the man who had been so cruel to her years before. He threatens to expose her if she refuses to give him money.

Carnos, a greaser, is sent to jail. He is a very refractory prisoner and swears to get even with the sheriff when he is liberated. On the day of the greaser's release, the sheriff had captured Broncho Billy, an outlaw, and was bringing him to justice, when he is suddenly pushed from his horse by the outlaw, and is left to wend his way across the plains afoot. Broncho Billy escapes on the sheriff's horse and unknowingly stops at the sheriff's home for food. Looking through a window he sees the greaser about to take the life of the sheriff's wife.

Slippery Slim uses his position as postmaster in order to hold back all the invitations to Sophie's birthday party, except, of course, his own and that of the parson.