Aluminum magnate James J. Maloney, Sr. meets with government officials to discuss the war effort and the need to end price-fixing. After the meeting, Maloney receives word that his son Jimmy, a playboy turned Army flight instructor, is lost with his navigator, Scully, somewhere in the Ozarks. While Maloney rushes to find his son, Jimmy and Scully crash land in the small town of Weaverville, where the mayor and his wife, Abner and Elviry Weaver, are trying to impress upon the citizens that they are better off in the mountains than in the big city

A (rather shady?) private detective specializing in recovering highly insured items gets involved in recovering a stolen necklace. In the process also gets involved with a secretary at the insurance company.

A singing cowboy clears a boy accused of murder by finding the real killer.

While trailing Forest Ranger Charles Carter, who is suspected of permitting lumber man Henry Mitchell to cut restricted timber, Gene fires at a dangerous mountain lion and apparently kills Carter. Actually, Bill Wright, Mitchell's associate, killed Carter because the ranger had discovered tussock moth infestation in the forest, and if the infestation was not reported, the trees would die and have to be cut, thereby profiting Mitchell and Wright. In order to compensate the best he can, Gene sells his sportsman's camp and gives the money to Carter's daughter Helen . En route to Texas, Gene discovers the infestation and is assigned by the Forest Department to supervise the program of spraying the area with DDT from the air. After the first day of spraying, the DDT is blamed by furious stock men for the many animals found dead of poisoning.