Bill, a cowpuncher, who wants to get married, answers an ad in a matrimonial journal. Alter seeing the picture of the girl, he decides to call it off, but receives a letter from the old maid's lawyer to the effect that Bill can be held to the marriage. Jack, a friend of Bill's, wires back that Bill has gone crazy, but receives a reply that Muriel is on her way to nurse her future husband. Bill, at his wits' end, allows his cowboy pals to rig him up as a wild man and he goes into the hills in this condition. Muriel arrives. In the meantime, a naturalist professor, who has been collecting bugs in the hills, comes out of the tent in his sleeping suit to find that his clothes have been burned up from the rays of a strong magnifying glass. He starts off in his sleeping suit, is seen by the old maid, who gives chase. Bill, who has been wandering around the hills, sees the fleeing professor and starts back for home. Muriel overtakes the professor and starts for town with him. When she tells him that she has $50,000 in her grip, he falls upon her and they embrace. They are married by a justice of the peace just as Bill's cowboy friends come upon the scene. They encounter Bill and tell him not to worry, that the old maid is already married. Bill does a joy dance until they come to the part where Muriel has $50,000 in her grip. This is too much for Bill; he tears off his wild man's costume and raves at losing a small fortune.