A charismatic gunfighter who is on the run takes refuge in a frontier cattle town and attempts to help a group of ranchers against a wealthy cattle baron.

About to marry Jim Plummer, Kate Foley runs off to Nevada when Ed Bagley convinces her a quick fortune can be made robbing gold shipments that are being transported by the railroad. In Bannock City she meets reformed-bandit Frank Plummer, posing as Frank Norris, brother of Jim Plummer, who has being going straight and working as an express shipment guard. Jim also shows up and plans a robbery by stealing a train and hiding it in an abandoned tunnel. The two brothers are on opposite sides of the law with the now-reformed Kate caught in the middle.

Slick gambler James Wylie is apprehended by the law and given the option to forgo a prison sentence if he poses as a bandit. His mission is to uncover the identity of the Poet, a notorious outlaw who has been holding up bank-owned stagecoaches and leaving verses at the crime scenes to taunt the authorities. James finds time to woo the Poet's lovely wife, Ann, who initially cold-shoulders him. But, as a romance develops, they partner up to find the robber.