The Boss Cowboy

On the same day that city-educated Sally Nolan, the daughter of a Great Plains rancher, returns home on the train, Mary Ross, the sister of another rancher, also arrives. After greeting Sally, Dick Taylor, Nolan's foreman, escorts Mary to her brother Tom's ranch, where he is introduced to Jack Kearns, Tom's shifty-eyed foreman. While Dick and Nolan talk about Kearns and their current rustling problem, Tom rides with Kearns to check up on his cattle. Unknown to Tom, Kearns and another hand, Pete Larson, have been rustling the Nolans' cattle and also have rustled a few of Ross's steers in order to divert suspicion from themselves. Before Larson, who is worried that Kearns's lecherous attraction for Mary will spoil their rustling operation, ambushes Kearns on the range, Kearns and Tom both fire at him. Tom, believing that he has fired the fatal bullet, abandons Larson's body and submits to Kearns's tyranny, to the dismay of his feisty sister. Dick, meanwhile, rides to the Ross ranch with Nolan and confronts Kearns with his suspicions. After Dick pummels Kearns and threatens to expose him, the sheriff announces that he has found Larson's body. To trick Kearns, Mary then decides to walk to the train station with her suitcase, but is nearly run over by a train as she is crossing a bridge. Rescued from the river by a passing Dick, Mary begs the foreman for help, and he takes her to a safe hideout. Dick then shows the sheriff a "wanted" poster for a murderer named Jack Wells, whom the sheriff recognizes as Kearns. Suddenly concerned for the safety of Sally, who is riding on the range, Nolan sends Dick and his other hands to search for her. After Tom finds Sally, Dick returns to the Nolans' house, where he discovers Kearns ransacking the living room. Dick and Kearns engage in a protracted fight, which ends as Kearns falls into the river from a cliff. At last defeated, Kearns confesses to his crimes and is arrested. Tom then proposes marriage to Sally, while Dick asks the same of Mary.