While travelling through Nevada enroute to California, "saddle tramp" Chuck Conner stays overnight with an old close friend. After the friend is killed falling from his horse, "Uncle Chuck" feels a duty to look after his four young boys, whose mother had died previously. He takes a job on a local ranch, but must conceal his new family from his employer. He also takes in a young woman who has run away from home, and she assists him to tackle a gang of cattle rustlers.[citation needed]