Grant MacLaine, a former railroad troubleshooter, lost his job after letting his outlaw brother, the Utica Kid, escape. After spending five years wandering the west and earning his living playing the accordion, he is given a second chance by his former boss.
Gene Autry is back in the saddle again as an undercover detective in this action-packed Western complete with a showdown. Gene poses as a jailbird to wangle the truth from a boy (Dick Jones) suspected of stealing an Army payroll. When the youngster escapes from lockup and rejoins his family's medicine show, intrigue is in the wind as Gene tries to solve the mystery of the missing money and to save the lad from a vicious mob. Pat Buttram co-stars.
When war breaks out between oilmen and cattle ranchers, Gene sides with the ranchers until he learns that oil will bring a railraod to town.
Bolton's men blow up the wagon carrying the mine payroll and Marshal Crash Corrigan is supposedly killed in the explosion. A man finds his badge and gives it to Bolton. Thinking Crash dead, Bolton gives the badge away and it ends up with the Sheriff. Crash is OK and the Range Busters know Bolton is the head of the gang but that he gets his orders from someone else and that is the man they want.
Johnny Mack (Johnny Mack Brown ) is hired by Lois Benton (Virginia Carroll) as a hand on her ranch, formerly run by Daley, who is in jail on a payroll theft charge. Despite the warning for foreman Rusty Steele (Raymond Hatton), Johnny sees real estate agent Kirby (Bill Kennedy), who wants to buy the Benton ranch. When Johnny refuses to align with Kirby, he is forced to knock out henchman Moran (Marshall Reed) in a fist fight. Rusty finds on henchman Harris (Forrest Matthews), when he is caught spying on the ranch, half a map revealing the location of the missing payroll.
Just after the Civil War a Texan and his men are fighting a ruthless Commissioner and his excessive taxes. After a Lieutenant is falsely accused of a pay wagon massacre by the Commissioner's men, he deserts the Army and tries to clear himself. At first he belives the Texan was behind the massacre but then learns it was the Commissioner and joins the Texan in his fight.
A banker troubled by both business and personal problems is transferred to a small town. There he meets and seduces an older woman. Together, they decide to pull off a payroll holdup together.