A train may be racing toward a crash with a cow. The engineer, who calls himself captain and poses in Napoleon hat and uniform with epaulets, is distracted by a lady who enters the engine car looking for a small, black dog. The captain accompanies her back through a car of swells in top hats. The fireman, a small and polite but dutiful man, sees danger ahead and searches for the captain. The train is low on fuel with a high mountain in front and a ruined behind, so the fireman calls on the passengers to donate fuel. The swells negotiate with a carload of revelers, so all might end well. But what of the captain, lady, dog, and cow?