Gene Autry returns as a "doctor on horseback" to the frontier town where his father was murdered and finds a feud raging between mine owner Jayda McQueen and cattleman Bowie French. Gene's only friend in town is "Dusty" Cosgrove. Gene answers a summons by Karen McQueen to treat her younger brother, but the boy unexpectedly dies and McQueen comes gunning for Gene, who is saved by French's timely intervention. When a miner shoots one of French's gunmen, the ranch hands attack the mine. Gene aids McQueen's forces. French's death in the battle brings the feud to an end. Nola, French's widow, reveals that it was the dead cattleman who killed Gene's father.