Josh doesn't like the way things go at home and decides to quit and get out. Later, his wife gets what purports to be his farewell letter, which is intended to lead her to believe he has committed suicide.
Two caravans meet on the desert, one headed by Howell and Clancy, two New York men, who are gathering animals for circus purposes, the other is led by an old animal tamer named Desmond and his beautiful daughter, whom the natives have nicknamed Capt.
Bob Ford, a young college graduate and a man-about-town, self-willed and wild, who tries his father's patience and generosity by going the limit, is called to a sudden halt by the old gentleman and sent out west with his valet to work on Jones' ranch in Texas and prove to his father that he is not a hopeless renegade.
"I do hate learnin', but oh! you schoolmarm!" is what the boys at the gulch said when Mary came to town; and, from "Big Bill" down to Hop Lee, the Chink, they all took to study, and to courtship.
Bill is discharged from Bar K Ranch and in his desperation decide to turn train robber. On his way to town he rescues Myrtle Mulligan, who has been driven from protection to the high branches of a tree by a vicious bull.
A young millionaire, whose hobby is mechanics, takes his newly overhauled car out for a trial spin, and he would have laughed had anybody told him that it was to be the most eventful trip of his life.