Following his refusal to let his daughter Carol marry cowhand Bill Grant, rancher John Roberts is kidnapped, and Bill is hunted for the crime. Carol abandons the ranch which soon earns a reputation of being haunted. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown, investigating a gold bullion robbery, discovers a piece of bone-handle from the kidnapper's gun on the ranch and also a solid gold rifle bullet. He locates Bill and they trace the gun-butt fragment to Andy Mullins, an eccentric old prospector. They find the stolen gold, a set of jewelers tools and the missing rancher in Andy's basement. The sheriff arrives with his henchmen Hawkins and Crowley and Johnny and Bill are arrested. Instead of taking his prisoners to jail, the sheriff who is secretly the head of the gold-robbing gang, directs his henchies to take Johnny and Bill to a remote spot... and kill them.