Knowing that it contains valuable helium gas, a gang of bad guys first tries to purchase the ranch that Gene straw-bosses; when that fails, they lay a hidden pipeline to snag the gas.

Gene Autry (Gene Autry), foreman of an absentee-owner ranch, agrees to a ruse to help elderly friend Dad Haskell (Frank Darien), who has lied in letters to his daughter Betty (Jean Rouveral) back East, telling her he is a wealthy rancher. When his daughter, her prospective bridegroom Walter Gregory (George Wolcott), and his haughty mother Mrs. Gregory (Margaret Armstrong) arrive, Gene helps Dad Haskell deceive them into believing the ranch is the old man's. Gene and the cowhands pretend to turn the place into a dude ranch. However, the ruse is ruined when the real owner arrives, compounded by some unscrupulous crooks who have discovered helium gas on the range and plot to steal it for a foreign power.—Les Adams <[email protected]>

When Gene finds Dad Haskell on the ranch he works on, Dad tells him his daughter is coming and he told her he owns the ranch. Gene lets him pose as the owner, but another problem arises when Kimball and his outlaw gang find the ranch's hidden helium well, One problem is solved when the real owner arrives to expose the hoax, but Gene quickly finds trouble when Kimball's men capture him.—Maurice VanAuken <[email protected]>