The Laramie Kid

Cowboy Tom Talbot returns to visit his girl friend, Peggy Bland, after a six-month absence. He reluctantly informs her that he has gambled away the $2,000 in earnings with which he had planned to purchase a ranch. When Peggy's father comes home, Tom hides outside because "Dad" distrusts him, but overhears Dad tell Peggy that unless he can come up with $1,000, banker Jim Morley will call in the mortgage on his ranch. Tom later promises Peggy that he will get the $1,000 if he "has to blast the town wide open." While he is in town, Tom encounters his friend, Ed Larkin, and asks him about earning money from a rodeo, but just then robbers exit the bank, and Ed knocks Tom off his horse and joins the robbers in making their escape. Tom's hat is left in the road as he gives chase. Later Morley visits Peggy and implies that if she were to marry him, he would not demand the money to pay off the ranch. They are interrupted by the sheriff, who informs Morley that his bank has been robbed, and the only bandit identified was Tom, whose guilt was further substantiated by the discovery of his hat. Dad turns Tom in to the sheriff, and Tom is sentenced to five years hard labor working on a road gang. Dad uses the reward money to pay his mortgage. While Tom is gone, Peggy discovers the robbers' hideout in Black Rock canyon, and finds the black bag stolen from the bank, which only contains correspondence, not money. While working on the road gang, Tom defends his old friend Shorty when he is beaten by bullies. That same night, Shorty sneaks out of the prison hospital and goes to Tom's cell and tells him that Larkin confessed to him that Tom had nothing to do with the robbery, which was set up by Morley to cover a deficiency of funds in his bank. When Peggy visits Tom in jail, her revelation about the bag confirms his suspicions about Morley, but he is unable to persuade her for her own safety not to pursue the matter. One day convicts make a break for freedom and force Tom to drive the wagon away from the prison. Police shoot the fleeing prisoners, but Tom leaps off the wagon to safety and escapes. When the sheriff informs Peggy and Dad that bonds were stolen during a train robbery, they suspect that a banker must be involved, as only a banker could dispose of the bonds. The sheriff also tells them of Tom's escape. Peggy goes to the robbers' cabin, where she finds Larkin dying of a gunshot wound. Peggy obtains Larkin's full confession but is held at the cabin by Morley and his men. Dad has a change of heart about Tom and sends him after Peggy, and misleads the sheriff as to Tom's location. At the hideout, Tom fends off Morley and his gang, until the arrival of the sheriff, who saves both Tom and Peggy. Tom is pardoned and released into Peggy's custody.