Young Second Lieutenant Jim Bennett musters out of the Confederate Army at Appomattox. He goes to his old home in South Carolina to find it in ashes. He wants a job where he can make a living from the back of a horse, so he goes to Texas and becomes a cowboy. He has a few fights with deserters and other bandits during the trip. There has been no branding in Texas during the war, so there’s lots of catching up to do. Jim gets a job as a cowboy with no problem. They have several fights with Indians, and Jim gains a reputation of being really handy to have around in a fight. They make a drive of cattle to Abilene with all the trials and tribulations associated with that.

Jim’s sweetheart, Vicky Allen, resents Jim’s leaving Virginia; but her father decides to move to Texas, too, to escape the predations of the carpetbaggers that were so common at the end of the war. Jim visits her often, but his duties as a cowboy keep him away from her most of the time. Mr. Allen operates a grocery or dry goods store.