Pretending to be hardened convict, Hardie escapes from prison with a felon who stashed the proceeds from a stagecoach robbery before he was captured. The Wells Fargo detective hopes that his new partner will lead him to the hidden loot.
Jim Hardie agrees to guard a woman wanted as a material witness in a San Francisco political corruption investigation after the detective assigned to escort her is murdered.
Hardie offers an old outlaw whom he sent to prison the opportunity to earn a parole and a reward if he will lead a posse into an outlaw stronghold and help rescue a United States senator from his kidnappers.
An outlaw gang abducts a pretty woman doctor to operate on one of their wounded confederates. Hardie and a deputy sheriff, whose wife needs her assistance during a difficult childbirth, desperately attempt to rescue the young woman.
During the land rush of 1889, Wells Fargo selected a spot for its first bank and relay station in Oklahoma and Jim Hardie was tasked with buying a fast horse with plenty of stamina to carry its rider to the designated spot and stake the company's claim. When the dust settles, another group has laid claim to the designated spot. Hardie is ordered to investigate when neither the rider nor horse can be found to determine what went wrong with the plan.
When Hardie captures the notorious Johnny Ringo, the outlaw request that he be able to care for her sister, who is dying, and to keep from the young woman Ringo's criminal background.
Sent to Madden to investigate problems Wells Fargo's stagecoaches are having in the vicinity, Hardie discovers the town is run by a ruthless businesswoman who opposes the townspeople's attempt to have an election, going so far as to murder her opponent for chairman of the town council. Using the town's newspaper, Hardie helps organize the citizenry to bring good government to the community.
While riding shotgun to protect a valuable gold shipment, Hardie and his stagecoach driver an interesting collection of passengers - including a U.S. Army officer being sent to Fort Laramie to stand trial for massacring a peaceful Indian village. Hardie's trip is far from uneventful - first the stagecoach is robbed by an outlaw gang and then passengers and criminals alike are attacked by Cheyenne Indians bent on avenging the murder of their families.
During an attempted hold-up, Hardie guns down a man who the outlaw leader claims was not a member of their gang. Hardie learns the man was an ex-convict who had gone straight after being released from prison and travels to the dead man's home town to learn what he was doing on the street at the time of the robbery.
Hardie rides into a small town to present a reward check to a man who helped prevent a stagecoach robbery. The fearful townspeople claim that they've never heard of the man and when the Wells Fargo detective investigates, he discovers the hero's grave.
Hardie's train is robbed and he is left without funds in a small town whose businessmen refuse to grant him credit. With the help of friendly old pickpocket, Hardie manages to alleviate his money problems and bring the thieves to justice.
Hardie is sent to investigate the murder of a Wells Fargo agent and finds that the sheriff suspect their new schoolteacher, an ex-convict, of perpetrating the crime. Although Hardie's testimony sent the man to prison many years earlier, the investigator is convinced that the murderer is one of the town's and other leading citizens.
A Wells Fargo manager has second thoughts about a stagecoach guard he recently hired despite the man's lack of references. He remembered that the new guard wore a belt buckle similar to those worn by a notorious family of Texas outlaws and fears that they may be plotting to rob a valuable shipment and asks Hardie to investigate the man's background.
Hardie investigates a robbery and the murder of a Wells Fargo express agent. His only lead is a young outlaw who was wounded during the crime. With the help of the local sheriff, Hardie pretends to be Jesse James and tricks the youthful criminal into taking him to the gang's hideout. Once inside, Hardie is aided by a wanted man who he rescued from two murderous bounty hunters.
While investigating the robbery of a Wells Fargo office, Hardie witnesses the murder of its agent from a bullet shot from the hotel across the street. Hardie's investigation quickly focuses on a number of suspects, including two Wells Fargo employees who have dark secrets they wish to keep hidden.
While attempting to deliver a golden owl to its wealthy purchaser, Hardy is attacked and the owl is replaced by one of lead while a Chinese religious society claims the owl was stolen from their temple in China.
So that a railroad section through the Dakota Black Hills can be completed, Hardie arrives to negotiate with the Pawnees who have killed a crew's hunter consigning the crew to meager rations and who continually harass the crew.
Jack Kramer soon to be executed asks Hardy to help his son change his evil tendency in exchange for stolen Wells Fargo gold so Hardy takes the son from an orphanage placing him with a family but Kramer's murderous partner follows.