Mike and Betty Tobin are frightened children left alone in a cabin while their fur-trapping father is held captive by outlaws after his valuable pelts.

Parson Loomis, carrying a payroll from the Mineral City Bank to the Hardrock Mine, is ambushed by two thieves, one of whom later disguises himself as the visiting ""Reverend Brown,"" a supposed friend of Loomis's. Roy, Dale, Pat, and the parson's childern soon realize that their ""guest"" is no man of the cloth.

The Hard Luck Insurance Company, for one flat premium payment, will insure any rancher for the rest of his life-or so the firm contends. Roy reveals that the entire affair is a ruthless racket.

Roy and Dale are caught between the fight of cattlemen and homesteaders who want the same land for different reasons.

Lanny Gaines, a teenager with artistic talent, moves with his father to Paradise Valley, but they are dismayed when no one pays them a welcome call. When three desperados posing as surveyors ask Gaines for lodging, the old man is only too glad to comply.

When they are unable to find work, two youths turn to crime, even endangering a kindly old couple who befriended them.

Pat Brady and Nellybelle are kidnapped by a gang of outlaws, one of whom coincidentally may be inheriting a million dollars.