Killer Wolf Benson (Boothe Howard) escapes from a sheriff's posse boards a passenger train, knocks out radio-singer Gene Autry (Gene Autry) and robs him of his clothes and identification. He then hurls Gene's unconscious body from assumes Gene's identity. Found beside the railroad track Gene is befriended by Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) and Professor Ezeckial Daniels (Earle Hodgins), a travelling two-man show. When Gene, now in the garb of the notorious killer tries to explain his plight to Sheriff Cole (Edward Peil) but the latter believes him to be Benson and he is jailed and ordered hanged. Meanwhile, Benson , pretending to be Gene, goes to a dude ranch run by an old friend of Gene's who has not seen him in years. When Jefferson Lee (Carl Stockdale) sees through Benson's ruse, he is killed and robbed. The family, including Lee's daughter Mary Ann (Frances Grant)believes the killer to be Gene Autry. Arriving at the ranch, under at the ranch, as an entertainer under an assumed name, Gene seeks to bring Benson and his gang to justice.