Mark Ridgeway, the owner of a large ranch in Nevada, intends to leave his ranch property, which includes a dam, to his foreman, Tom Taylor, but when he dies without signing the will, the ranch goes to his niece and nephew, Marion and Reggie Ridgeway. These two easterners arrive at the ranch, and Tom falls in love with Marion. Joe Deerfoot, an evil, college-educated half-breed Indian, offers Reggie $10,000 for the ranch, aware that the water rights on the property are worth a fortune. The stupid, effeminate Reggie agrees to the deal and signs the contract. Joe kidnaps Marion in order to force her signature on the deed, but Tom, having overheard the plans, rides his horse Silver King to Joe's lair in the mountains. There, Joe stabs Tom and pushes him over a cliff into a lake, but Silver King tramples the Indian to death, dives from the precipice into the lake, and saves Tom. Marion and Tom put Reggie on a train back east and face the future together as ranchers.—AFI