Leaving his consumptive wife with her child alone, and in poverty, Dave Dexter passes his time playing cards in the "Silver Star Saloon." His wife, seized with a choking cough, realizes that the end is at hand. She sends little Mary to the saloon for her father. She finds him in a dispute over cards. She steps between "Mexican Luke" and her father. Luke slinks back, ashamed by the child. The father returns to his cabin, realizes his wife's condition, and hastens out for help. The Mexican steals a cowboy's horse and rides toward Dexter's shack, seeking trouble, meeting Dexter going on his way for help. Dexter stops him and tells him of his wife's sickness and begs for the loan of his horse. The Mexican strikes Dexter with his whip. Driven to desperation, Dexter pulls the Mexican off his horse, mounts and rides away, leaving the Mexican swearing vengeance. The cowboys miss the stolen horse and find the hatband from the Mexican's sombrero. They start after him. "Mexican Luke" visits the sheriff and accuses Dexter of being the long-sought horse thief. The sheriff and he ride hastily to Dexter's home and find him bending over the dead body of his wife. The sheriff listens to the stricken man's story, but is forced to do his duty and he places the handcuffs on him. Little Mary pleads with the stern sheriff in vain. Tearfully the child produces her little bank and tries to bribe the sheriff, adding to the offer her last and dearest treasure, her old rag doll. Touched by Dexter's story, the presence of death and the appeal of the motherless child, he forgets he is sheriff, and forgetting his sworn oath of office, gives Dexter a chance to escape. He declines it. The sheriff is about to replace the handcuffs, when the cowboys, on the trail of the horse thief, crowd into the cabin. The sheriff silences them, telling them they are in the presence of death. With uncovered heads, the leader proves the innocence of Dexter by producing the missing hatband and pointing to the Mexican's bat. "Mexican Luke" is led away by the sheriff and the cowboys, leaving Dexter and his little daughter alone with their dead.