Young Bill Cody wants to be a Pony Express rider, but he's too heavy. However, he accepts a job as a station hand, hoping he'll get to ride someday. When one of the riders is shot in an Indian attack while delivering vital mail, Cody sees his chance. He takes the horse and satchel and rides on through further Indian ambushes and past a destroyed station and one with no horses. He finally reaches the telegraph station at Fort Churchill, Nevada thus helping the Pony Express deliver news of Abraham Lincoln's election in record time and ensuring California remains in the Union. After completion of the transcontinental telegraph and the demise of the Pony Express, Cody decides to go on a buffalo hunt with his former station manager, Nevada Jim, who gives him a new nickname - Buffalo Bill.