Young Joe is paralyzed as he is bucked by a wild horse, a strawberry roan. Angered, his father, Walt, tries to shoot the horse but is stopped by his foreman, Gene Autry.
James Kincaid controls the local water supply and plans to do away with the other ranchers. Government agent Sandy Saunders arrives undercover to investigate Kincaid's land swindle scheme, and win the heart of one of his victims, Fay Denton.
Hidden Valley has managed to retain its Old Western atmosphere, free of modern-day corruption, until escaped convict Smitty arrives with plans of taking over and opening the town up as a gambling resort.
Stevie Carson, a newspaper reporter, and Danny Butler, the "morgue" manager on the same newspaper, set out to track down the killer of a colleague, a book-reviewer who was involved with a group of rare book forgers and whose sister has been convinced her editor-fiance, Bill Monroe, killed him.
The millionairess aunt of Errol's previously married wife is coming to visit, and since the aunt is dead set against divorce, the wife prevails upon Errol to pose as the butler, and brings back her inebriated first husband to pose as her current mate.
A hated country gentleman is murdered, and the inspector on the case takes the veiwer through his thoughts about the possible murderer and motives as he questions everyone concerned.