Zane Grey

The Mysterious Rider Illustrated Zane Grey

In the Arizona desert in the late 1800s, famed outlaw Pecos Bill (Douglass Dumbrille) and his sidekick Frosty Kilburn (Sidney Toler) hold up a stagecoach. During the raid, Bill takes money from a wealthy passenger and gives it to a poor woman passenger, then rides away. Having lived an outlaw life for the past twenty years, and still wanted for a murder he did not commit, Pecos Bill, whose real name is Ben Wade, decides to return to his home town disguised as a regular cowboy to see his now grown daughter. Meanwhile, Jack Bellounds (Weldon Heyburn), the son of the corrupt rancher William Bellounds (Stanley Andrews) who stole Ben's White Slider ranch, returns from prison and is given a ride back to the ranch by Ben's beautiful daughter Collie Wade (Charlotte Field), who was raised by his father. When Collie refuses his offer of marriage, the arrogant Jack races their horse-drawn carriage wildly through the desert. Seeing the runaway carriage, the gallant ranch forman Wils Moore (Russell Hayden) chases them down and stops the horses. As Wils rides off, Jack notices that Collie is attracted to Wils.