Acting
The forceful reformation of a lazy scrounger.
It's Christmas, and a young woman is on her way to celebrate the holidays with her parents. A group of drunk cowboys startle her horses making her wagon, with the woman on it, speed off. By chance Broncho Billy saves her life and the grateful girl invites him over for Christmas dinner. Little does he know that the young lady is the Sheriff's daughter…
Broncho Billy runs into trouble in a bar when he gets into a confrontation with a bully. Since the bully has a gun and Billy doesn't, he's forced to endure the bully's humiliating tactics until he manages to get away. He determines to find himself a gun, learn how to use it and then go back and find the bully for a little payback.
Coyote Simpson and "Alkali" Ike both love the buxom Sophie, pride of Buckskin, Ariz. Coyote has a long curling mustache that is his one pride and joy, but Sophie objects to it when he kisses her and orders him to trim it down.
A western prospector, who has been unusually lucky, prepares to return east to his wife. The suspicious actions of a gypsy horse-trader, whom he has seen loitering near his cabin, prompts him to take his gold to the bank, but on the way he is thrown from his horse and suffers fatal injuries. A young man and woman come on the scene and are given the gold, after they promise the dying man to send a portion of it to his wife. Later, the gypsy, learning who got the gold, attacks the mother of the young people and escapes with the treasure.
Dave Trent is employed on the Big C ranch and lives with his sister, Mary, a charming girl. Jim Andrews, foreman of the ranch, loves Mary, and one morning calls to put the engagement ring on her finger.
The Busy Business Boy lands at his desk like the Early Bird with the intention of tearing off a week or two of correspondence in an hour or so. But the Napoleon of finance reckons not with the Man with the Funny Puzzle, the Fruit Vender, the Insurance Agent with the Flowing Vocabulary, and last, but not least, with Rube.
Fairfax, California, is the location used for this film, one of the earliest Broncho Billy films. Anderson includes his usual mix of comedy and drama as Broncho Billy gets caught in the middle of a family dispute between a jealous hotel owner and his daughter when she flirts with her boyfriend, a cowboy her father dislikes.
Jim Riley is to be arrested for horse stealing and when the sheriff knocks at the door of Jim's shack, he asks his little girl Nellie to go and tell the man he is not at home. Nellie tries to persuade the big sheriff that her father is out, but to no avail, for Jim is arrested and taken away, while he promises his little girl he will soon return.
Bridget, the cook on the Hard-Up Ranch, is some eat specialist on everything but soup. This, the boys declare, is bad, and select "Alkali" as the martyr to so inform her. "Alkali" does the test he can, but is bombarded out of the kitchen by the irate Bridget, who proceeds to drive the boys to the shelter of the hayloft for protection.
Broncho Billy, owner of a saloon in Big Horn City, is trusted implicitly by the miners in the surrounding territory. Several of them have gathered at the bar, when Broncho Billy receives a note, stating that the stage-coach will not stop at Big Horn until the following day. The men request Broncho Billy to keep their gold until the coach arrives.
