Texas Ranger

Cattle chief Matt Taylor decides to take over Laramie Valley, and posts a sign warning all homesteaders to leave or be burnt out. To enforce his threat, Taylor employs a group of night riders to enforce his edict. Most of the homesteaders choose to leave rather than fight, but Helen Clayton, owner of the Belle Starr, elects to stay. Taylor's men attack her ranch, and it is burnt down as Helen's invalid father is killed. Helen shoots the gunman who claimed her father's life, then swears to make Taylor pay. At the Texas Rangers Headquarters, Division A, ranger Jim Logan is assigned the task of finding Helen. His captain, John Edwards, informs him that Helen and some of her loyal ranch hands have formed an outlaw gang that has been raiding Taylor's cattle, and may have murdered Ed Lanning, one of Taylor's men. Jim enters the valley pretending to be a drunk sheepman, and learns that anyone sympathetic to Helen is thrown out of town by Taylor. He also learns that Taylor has put a personal bounty of $2,000 on Helen's head, but will award it only if she is brought to him, not the law. Taylor becomes more upset when Helen's gang throws one of his men, hog-tied, into the saloon. That night, Taylor and his men learn that a local storekeeper is delivering supplies to Helen's gang that night. When Taylor's men try to hold up the supply wagon, Jim arrives and saves the wagon, though its driver is killed. Helen's men take Jim into their camp, where the Ranger and the female outlaw are immediately attracted to one another. Helen's men, however, are suspicious of Jim, as they believe Jim may be a lawman. Jim becomes sympathetic to Helen, and asks her to leave the Laramie Valley, but she insists that she must stay to avenge her father's death. As Helen and Jim fall in love, the gang finally discovers Jim's true identity. He is given the option of leaving the hideout with the promise of not disclosing its whereabouts, or being hanged. Jim, ever the lawman, chooses the latter, and the gang offers him a last meal with Helen. As the two are followed into the woods by the gang, Helen and Jim make a mad dash for their horse and ride off together with the gang in hot pursuit. The two manage to lose the gang, only to be captured by Taylor's men. Jim, thinking quickly, pretends that he has captured Helen and asks for his $2,000 reward. At the Syndicate Ranch, Taylor finally meets his prey and offers Jim a job based on his good work. When Taylor announces that he plans to kill Helen himself, Ed Lanning's brother Sam protests and Jim overhears Taylor order one of his men to kill Sam "just like he did his brother." Jim stops Sam's assassin, then tells Sam what he overheard. Sam wants to kill Taylor himself, but Jim convinces him to go to the Ranger headquarters for help instead. Jim then saves Helen from Taylor and his men, as the two barricade themselves in the ranch house until help can arrive. As Helen's gang arrives, Taylor sneaks into the ranch house and he and Jim engage in a fistfight. As the Rangers arrive, Taylor's gang attempts to escape. Helen is shot in the arm as Taylor is finally defeated by Jim. Taylor is arrested for murder, and Jim announces that he plans to hold Helen in protective custody as "a material witness."