 Cattleman Brill Austin (George O Brien) doesn t like to see the farmers come into the territory because he knows the land is not fit for farming and the settlers can do nothing without water. He generously lets them take water from his springs, but he knows the water he can spare won t irrigate crops nor water farm stock for them, The settlers have been lured into the territory by Judge Ben Curry (Paul Everton), an oily-voiced land promoter who has promised them there is plenty of water if wells are dug, but all the local people know this is a lie. Hand-in-glove with Curry is town butcher Pete Gore (Cy Kendall.) Among the settlers are ex-lawyer Franklin Brambull (Henry Hall), and daughter Priscilla (Virginia Vale) and son Larry (Dick Hogan.) Curry, figuring that Brambull will naturally side with the settlers against the cattlemen, has him made prosecuting attorney for Olympia City. Then Gore has some of his men, including Larry who has gone bad, steal some of Brill s cattle and skin them, right on Brill s land so they can not be traced. He then hangs the dressed beef up in his butcher shop and dares Brill to prove they are his. Brill s uncle, Sheriff Jim Austin (J. Farrell MacDonald), goes to see Gore and is found dead in Gore s shop with one of the butcher s knives in his heart. Gore, with Curry to back him, says he killed the Sheriff in self-defense. Curry holds a special election, has Olympia City desiginated the county seat, tries Gore there and gets him acquitted. Brill, discovering that Mr. Brambull is not sympathetic to Curry nor his methods, sends him to see the Governor who declares the county-seat election illegal, and orders Gore to be tried in Prairie Rose, the real county seat. The trial of Gore in Prairie Rose is not accomplished without bloodshed.