Reese, Chad and Joe get into a saloon fight defending the honor of the Rangers. Parmalee disciplines them by assigning them to escort Jerky Collins' wagon of smelly buffalo hides. Chad tries to dissuade unwanted, married admirer Marianne Montaigne but she wants to leave her husband Louis and Chad hides her out in the wagon load of hides until they're out of town. Because of the fight two saloon girls were fired by the owner, Fatty Brown. Reese helps them by loading Fatty's pi-annie into a buckboard and allowing them to follow along with the hides. Unknown to all a shipment of rifles have been hidden in the hides by the man who sold them to Broken Horn, a renegade. The trip is a party until the Indians attack.

The stage carrying State Senator Sparks and Captain Parmalee is held up by the Davis Gang, who takes the stagecoach horses forcing the Senator and Parmalee to walk to Laredo. Meanwhile, the Brannigan Brothers lose heavily in a card game and accuse Chad of cheating, which starts a fight in the saloon. The fight spills out onto the street just as the Captain and Senator Sparks arrive, giving the Senator a bad first impression of the Rangers. Reese, Chad and Joe set up a Texas style breakfast for Senator Sparks but the Brannigans ruin it and cause the tray of food to be dumped onto the Senator, who threatens to remove Ranger funding. Parmalee travels on the stage with the Senator to dissuade him from cutting the funding. Reese, Chad and Joe devise a plan to have their own ""outlaw"" gang, lead by Reese, stop the stage and then Chad and Joe will come to the rescue but a member of the real Davis Gang is in the saloon when Reese is recruiting and the plan backfires. This leaves the three

Parmalee has only 3 rangers, Reese, Chad and Joe to keep order at a land rush. He reminds them that any rangers found showing any favoritism will face prison. While patrolling the area Chad meets lovely widow Alice Coverly and walks her back to her wagon. Reese gets into a discussion with her young brother Robert concerning western Indians versus real Indians that his British grandfather fought against. Reese goes to meet Robert's grandfather, Major Donaldson, and he and Chad have tea with the family. Parmalee breaks up the tea party and expresses his wishes to have an extra hour before the noon starting time to give those trying to file deeds illegally time to come in and be caught, Reese steals Commissioner Smoot's glasses, giving the Captain his extra hour. The rush begins and Major Donaldson is able to stake out the river land he wants but collapses after doing so. Chad puts on the Major's uniform and rides the Major's horse. He then has to pretend to be Major Donaldson to

Pro-Juarez rebel Juan Morales is taken from Ranger protection by the LeBec gang across the border to a French prison to await execution as an enemy of Emperor Maxmillian. The four rangers are sent to retrieve him and gain access to the prison with the help of cantina owner and Juarez sympathizer Carmella Alveras, who is also an old girlfriend of Erik's. Erik devises a plan to rescue Morales ""after the execution"". Reese, Chad and Joe sneak into the firing squad barracks and load the rifles with blanks while Erik does the same for the captain's pistol which will be used for the coup de grace, the final shot to the head. The pistol is fired at Erik when he's leaving the fort so he, Chad and Joe intercept soldiers sent from Maxmillian and impersonate them with Reese reluctantly posing as Morales' wife. Erik poses as a major and uses his ""rank"" to fire the coup de grace himself.

The four Rangers mission is to find out who has been raiding settlements, kidnapping skilled workers and killing the rest. Reese and Joe track the raiders for three days and are captured. Joe eventually becomes a gladiator second class and Reese a slave in the camp of Hannibal Rex, a would-be Roman-type emperor in Texas. Chad and Erik pose as a sculptor and an architect and are also abducted by Hannibal's henchmen. Hannibal's favorite wife Celeste invites Erik to her tent but he suspects a trap. Chad goes instead and is punished by being hung on a slowly heated metal pole that is suspended over a pit of poisonous snakes. Joe, Reese and Erik free Chad and they succesfully battle Hannibal Rex and his henchman. Erik ends up having a picnic with Celeste who he has handcuffed himself to.