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.
Joyce Reid, a wealthy young debutante, stows away on a cargo ship to China, carrying as passengers her dashing aviator sweetheart, Dan Bailey and and her munitions-producing father, E.
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.
Although Larry "Buster" Crabbe earns top billing, the hero of Drift Fence is former Western star Tom Keene as Jim Travis, who, at a rodeo, meets city dweller Jim Traft, who has come west to erect a fence that will prevent Clay Jackson from continuing his cattle rustling business.
Someone is murdering the cast and crew of a new Hollywood movie, and the leading lady may be next. As a police detective locks down the lot and refuses to let anyone leave, the studio’s publicity head and his secretary attempt to solve the murders themselves.