Following the robbery of the Inspiration Gold Mine, Circus Lacey drifts into the border town of Esmeralda, where he saves Ethel Slocum from the unwanted advances of Red Lucas, a notorious gunman. When Ethel later also refuses to submit to the sheriff's demands, the sheriff frames her father for the mine robbery. Circus saves Pa Slocum from mob violence and captures one of Red's hired gunmen, thereby discovering the secret den of the bandits. Circus is surprised there by Red and forced to surrender, but he escapes, returns to town in time to prevent a bank robbery, proves that the sheriff is one of Red's hirelings, and wins Ethel for his wife.
—AFI