 Range minstrel Roy Acuff (Roy Acuff) takes over the county-wide Corby Ranch which, under the terms of the owner s will, must be operated by Roy for 90 days, and at the end of that time, family friend Doc Moffit (Harry "Pappy" Cheshire), must decide whether to turn over the ranch to Roy or the rough Corby boys, Roy s cousins Bruce "Kid" Corby (Russell Arms) and Joab (Jason Robards.) Corby foreman "Saddle Grease" (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) tries to run Roy off the place, but eases off when Roy saves his life during a wild drive with a truckful of dynamite. Roy opens the range to migratory workers, discovers new water wells, tears down electric fences, cures ailing cattle, plays his fiddle, and treats the neighbors and kids with barbecues and and barn dances, where he plays his fiddle some more. Kid Corby gives Roy a beating, but is so ashamed of himself that he helps Roy from then on. Joab, working with a crooked lawyer, rigs a scheme to destroy Roy s reputation. The frame-up fails, but Roy returns the ranch to the now-reformed brothers and takes to the road again with his Smoky Mountain Boys.