The Fighting Parson

After Arizona Joe loses his money and gunbelt shooting craps, he convinces his pal, Steve Hartly, who, like Arizona, is an unemployed cowboy, to let him wager his twenty-five dollar hat after revealing that he now plans to use loaded dice. When the other cowboys discover this, Arizona quickly leaves and Steve follows, assuring the others that he will bring Arizona back. Meanwhile, Mike, a member of an outlaw gang headed by saloon owner Bart McTague, who is on trial for murder in the nearby town of Red Dog, intercepts the Reverend Joseph Doolittle on his way to town for a revival meeting. After stripping him of his coat, tie and pants, Mike orders him at gunpoint to leave his horse and buggy and walk into the desert to prevent him from coming to town and stirring up the people against Bart. When Steve and Arizona find the clothes and a letter from Doolittle's patron, Mrs. Larkin, Steve decides to impersonate the reverend. Bart, about to be hung, recognizes Steve and threatens to reveal that he is only a cowhand unless Steve convinces Marshal J. A. Darby to give him another chance. The marshal reluctantly agrees and frees Bart as Steve's responsibility. At the Larkin ranch, Steve is called upon to christen a number of babies and to marry the marshal to his fiancée. Steve expresses his reluctance to undertake these duties to Arizona, who tries to help by switching the babies' clothes to cause confusion and spotting their faces to create a measles scare. While the whole town is gathered at the Larkin ranch for the ceremonies, Bart and his gang rob the express office. Steve is saved from going through with the wedding when the express clerk arrives and relates the robbery. Finding Bart, Steve fights him, then demands a cut and arranges a rendezvous with him the next morning to get the money. When the real Doolittle shows up at the ranch the next day, Steve, who has developed a strong affection for Mrs. Larkin's niece Susan, leaves quickly for town. When the marshal questions Bart about the robbery, he denies complicity and, to show that he has reformed, offers to take Steve, still masquerading as Doolittle, and Arizona to the money. Suspecting that they are in cohoots, the marshal agrees and then sends a deputy to follow and find their hideout. Bart leads Steve and Arizona to a cabin at the foot of a cliff where his men capture them. After tying them up inside the cabin, instructs Mike to set off a dynamite charge to cause an avalanche. Steve and Arizona free themselves and escape through a hidden passageway, but when Steve sees Susan, who has come to warn him that the marshal knows he is not Doolittle and thinks he is Bart's cohort, near the cabin, he rides up and rescues her just before the explosion. Steve then bests Bart in a fight and successfully explains the mistaken identity mixup to the marshal. The real Doolittle gives his revival meeting, to the distress of Bart, who, in addition to having been sentenced to hang the next day, is forced to sit through the meeting. As they rise to join the singing, Steve and Susan hold hands.