In the late 1800s, John Murphy wanders into a wild mining town controlled by a local tycoon. Instant enmity is born, but the gritty Murphy joins a local miner and a homeless waif to work a gold claim and fight the tycoon's influence. Murphy's decision to stay is reinforced when the tycoon's heavies kill the parents of neighbor children over control of a gold strike. Together with the local school teacher, Murphy becomes temporary father to the children.

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A handsome but ineffectual priest joins the school and provides comic opposition to Murphy and a pair of brothers in the orphanage, one of whom has a bed-wetting problem.

Murphy befriends an embittered black boy and teaches him a useful trade—wagon driving. But a wagon wreck causes the boy to lose the use of his hand, and Murphy must help him cope with living without the only task which ever made him feel worthwhile.

Father Parker mistakenly trades some of the stock for a fast, beautiful horse... that no one can ride. He'd hoped to race it in the territorial fair to win the $1000 purse, but he's injured while trying to break the animal. A little retarded girl at the school proves to be the only one who can tame it, and despite everyone's concern, she indeed rides the horse to victory. In the comic B-story, Rodman tries to indict the school for gambling and horse-playing, but it turns out Rodman's boss likes to play the ponies too ... and wins a bundle on the big race.