When Lightning Strikes

Through their friendship with the chief of an Ojibway Indian tribe, Matt Caldwell and his father Jim have secured permission to lease 2,000 acres of valuable Western timberland. Determined to gain control of the long-sought forest, rival timber man Lafe Broderick hires two lumberjacks, Wolf and Hunky, to force Jim off the land while Matt is out of the area on business. As Wolf and Hunky head for Jim's cabin, Matt's dog Lightning delivers a letter to Jim from Matt, who advises his father that, unless their timber lease is registered in town soon, they will lose the land to Broderick. Before Lightning leaves Jim's cabin with the lease, however, Wolf shows up with Hunky and lures the dog into the woods. Jim then takes off across a lake in a canoe but is tracked closely by a gun-wielding Hunky. Lightning, meanwhile, returns to Jim's cabin and fights violently with Wolf. After besting Wolf, Lightning catches up to Jim's canoe just as Hunky fires at the old man. Confident that Jim is dead, Hunky and Wolf leave the scene, after which Lightning quietly rescues his wounded, unconscious friend from the water. Hunky and Wolf then settle in at the cabin, which Broderick has ordered them to occupy until the due date on the Caldwell lease passes. While the thugs are waiting, Jim regains consciousness and orders Lightning to find Matt. As Lightning passes by the cabin, he is spotted by Wolf and Hunky and is shot. The wounded Lightning crawls under some bushes and eventually is found by Matt's girl friend, Helen Stevens, and her dog Shaggy. Soon after, Matt returns from his trip and, upon hearing of Lightning's gunshot wound and the disappearance of his father, storms to his cabin and angrily confronts Wolf and Hunky. Although Wolf and Hunky insist that the property has been taken over by Broderick's lumber company, Matt throws the thugs from the cabin. He then asks Lightning to find Jim and is led to an Ojibway village. There, a recuperating Jim tells Matt about the missing lease, and both men agree that the chances of recovering the document in time are slim. To Matt's surprise, Lightning leads his master to the spot near the cabin where he had buried the document. Matt is overjoyed by Lightning's cleverness, but after he sends the dog to fetch a bucket of water, Broderick, who has learned that Jim is alive, sneaks into the cabin and tries to beat him into revealing the lease's whereabouts. During the ensuing fight, a wood-burning stove is knocked over and the cabin is set on fire. Lightning alerts Helen and her father, the local marshal, to the burning cabin, then attacks Wolf and Hunky in a saloon. Broderick is arrested, and Jim and Matt are finally assured of their timber land. After Matt assesses the smoldering remains of his cabin, he and Helen kiss.