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- Eben Martin spends his lifetime accumulating wheat farms in hopes that his sons Chris and Walt will take over the family business and work the land. Chris is more interested in finance, however, and leaves the farm and his fiance Ellen. He moves to Chicago and uses his cunning and knowledge of wheat to make his fortune at the Board of Trade in the "wheat pit." Chris becomes highly influential with the help of wealthy Henry Flint, and courts Henry's society-bored daughter Cynthia. Back at the farm, Ellen and Walt marry, have children and struggle to maintain the farm and pay the family debts. Walt becomes active in unionizing farmers across the nation. Chris visits the farm with Cynthia to attend the wedding of the Martin's beloved hired hands, Loopey Lou and Lydia. Although Chris is embarrassed by his humble family, Cynthia is touched by their genuine warmth and later accepts his marriage proposal. With the arrival of winter, the poverty-stricken farmers suffer greatly, as banks foreclose on properties such as Loopey Lou's. Walt travels to Chicago, just missing Chris's wedding, but the brothers form an agreement to help each other, in which Walt will call the farmers to strike, and Chris will help raise the wheat prices. The strike is somewhat successful and Walt urges the farmers to remain steadfast. The planting season proves too tempting, though, and the farmers break the strike before getting a good price for the wheat. Despite intense pressure and the threat of losing everything, Chris buys up wheat, maintaining his position until he is insolvent. His spirits remain high with the help of his loving wife, whose father makes Chris a partner in his company. In Washington D.C., Walt influences the government to raise farm prices, and the Martin brothers are hailed as national heroes.
- Bob Langdon, a young Pony Express rider, is given an appointment to West Point, but is forced to leave the academy as the result of political intrigue stirred up by enemies of his friend, General George A. Custer. Bob returns to the west and is made a scout for Custer's 7th Cavalry. At the Battle of Little Big Horn, Custer sends Bob with a message for aid, and Bob becomes the only survivor of the battle.
- A young cowboy falls in love with the daughter of a rich rancher, and they plan to marry. However, the cowboy winds up getting in a fight with the girl's cousin and is forced to shoot him. Believing that he has killed the man and will be prosecuted for murder, the cowboy flees and ends up working on a ranch in Oregon, where his cowboy skills impress the owner to the extent that he is picked as the ranch's entrant in the World Rodeo Championships held in nearby Pendleton--a competition in which his fiancé's ranch is also entered.
- Bob Erskine, the son of a wealthy New York banker, falls in love with Ella Parkhurst, the daughter of an Oregon rancher. Bob goes to work as a field hand for the elder Parkhurst and discovers that the Oregon crops may fail because eastern bankers, led by Bob's father, refuse to advance the farmers credit. Bob intercedes with his father, who promises to help the ranchers if Bob wins the steeplechase in the Pendleton rodeo. Bob rides in the race and wins it handily, saving the crops and assuring himself of Ella's devotion.
- In the picture are shown such thrillers as bronco busting, wild horse racing, bull-dogging steers, horse breaking by some of the famous cowgirls of the West, squaw races, roping cattle and riding them. The observer soon becomes conscious of the great danger to life and limb that these contests impose. There are several instances where men and girls are thrown so violently to the ground before the camera that they lie senseless and are taken away to the hospital. In the bucking horse contests there is keen competition since the championship of the world is involved. One notes that there are many different kinds of bucking. Some horses at once rear, prance around on their hind legs and fall backward. Some jump around the arena stiff legged. Others pitch violently with a rocking chair motion. Still others run at full speed and then suddenly come to a stop, frequently flinging their riders over their heads. Most difficult of all the sports is bull-dogging. In this the cowboy races after the running steer and throws himself from his horse to the back of the steer while going at full speed, seizing at the same time the horns of the animal. There comes a contest of strength. Finally, if he is lucky, by twisting the neck of the steer, the man gets him down and they go in a heap together. Then comes another struggle while the cowboy endeavors to twist the steer's nose around and upward so that he can seize the beast by the upper lip with his teeth and hold him securely enough to release and raise his hands as a sign of victory. There is much that is exciting and dangerous about a wild horse race, and there is considerable comedy as well. When the rider has succeeded in mounting his horse, which, by the way, has never been ridden before, and has been able to stay on, it is laughable to see the horse refuse to go in the direction in which the race is being run, but turn around and race the other way. Barely one rider in fifty succeeds in making his horse go around the track the right way without being unhorsed. His competitors, most of them, have been thrown so violently that one wonders what manner of men are these that can have such falls and live. Sometimes the horses charge the fence with their riders and break their way through in a shower of timbers. Moving Picture World, January 12, 1918
