Plot

Dick Carlysle returns home to find that his mother has married Brute Kettle who is really out to get the Carlysle ranch. First Kettle gets Bennett to forge a letter saying Dick relinquishes his inheritance in the ranch and then he tries to get Dick's mother to relinquish hers.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

When Dick Carlysle returns home to California from Texas, his neighbors, Grace and Jim Valentine, who are brother and sister, greet him at the train depot. Dick is disappointed that his widowed mother has not come to meet him, and when the Valentines tell him that she has married well-known lout Brute Kettle, he wants to leave. Grace convinces Dick that his mother would want to see him, so Dick heads out toward the Carlysle ranch. Unknown to Dick or his mother, Brute and his brother Bud have been conspiring with lawyer Fred Bennett to cheat them of their valuable ranch land. They also have been hiding all of Dick's letters to his mother. Just before Dick arrives, Brute gives his wife Dick's most recent letter, which mentions that he is coming home. Moments later, after Dick arrives, he soon realizes how badly his mother has been treated and confronts Brute.