Confederate Col. Lafe Harvey (Earl Ross) travels home after the Civil War, where he must tell his niece, Betty (Frances Grant), that her father is presumed dead.
A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Hoping to rid a small western community of its corrupt political machine, Ken Marshall (Ken Maynard) runs for sheriff against the bad guys' candidate and wins the election.
Chet Kasedon is after the Indians hidden gold mine but Chief Moya will not reveal it's location. He has also hired mining engineers Gale and Mortimer to locate the mine.
In London, August 1914, Austrian star Elsa Duranyi (Gertrude Michael) and English matinee idol Alan Barclay (Herbert Marshall) are in love and plan an immediate marriage.