Steve Forsythe/The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) is trailing holdup man Sam Barton (Lee Morgan) from Texas, but Barton is found first by hotel owner Ace Conley (Jim Bannon) who has his henchmen kill Barton and hide the 1000 $20 gold pieces he has stolen in an abandoned mine. Before Steve and the local sheriff, Tom Chapman(Peter Thompson), can get together on a plan, Conley has terrorized Pop Willard (Edgar Dearing), a miner, into boasting of his "gold strike" to divert attention from Conley's plan of melting the gold pieces into nuggets which he can bring into town legitimately. He needs a blacksmith to melt the gold and Smiley (Smiley Burnette), the town blacksmith, is kidnapped to handle that chore.