Lillian Pierce and Jim Wentworth love each other and with the consent of Lillian’s parents become engaged. Jim was employed on her father’s ranch and was a favorite of the father’s. Will Mason was working on the same ranch, but less favored and his proposal was met with the announcement of Lillian’s engagement to Jim. Will concocts a plot with Julia Rivers, a dance hall frequenter, who agrees to pose as Jim’s deserted wife. The plot works well, and Jim in disgrace leaves the scenes of what had been his paradise. Will presses his suit with a vengeance and still meeting with staunch refusal, he seeks aid from a band of desperadoes in death valley. His mission is fruitless and he succumbs to exhaustion. Later Jim comes upon the bleached skeleton of Will Mason and the forged marriage certificate. The reunion of Jim and Lillian is a foregone conclusion.