The Mysterious Rider

Lucy Hegan, the proprietor of a settlement house for the poor, is engaged to Hugh Gordon, the head of a large pharmaceutical and chemical firm who, unknown to Lucy, is also the ringleader of a powerful drug and white slave operation in the Chinese quarter.

In the small town of Sycamore Ridge live youthful sweethearts Bob Hendricks and Molly Culpepper; Bob's banker father, General Hendricks; and John Barclay, head of the Golden Belt Wheat Co. When Adrian Brownwell comes to town to publish a newspaper, his cash deposits in Hendricks' bank relieve the banker's worry that an expected bank examiner will discover the shortage in bank funds resulting from Hendricks' support of Barclay. Adrian falls in love with Molly and decides to leave Sycamore Ridge when she refuses to marry him. Barclay threatens Molly with the financial ruin of many whom she holds dear unless she marries Adrian, and Bob returns from the East to find Molly the new Mrs. Brownwell.

Oil is discovered on the Countess de Elberca's estate in a mythical Spanish American country. Mercedes McDonald, her niece, falls in love with Sandy Buchanan, a young Scotch engineer hired by the countess. Don Felipe, a neighbor in need of money to avoid arrest for embezzlement, conspires with his nephew, the Duke of Othomo, for the latter to wed Mercedes. The aunt approves the suit. Felipe and Othomo attempt to kill Mercedes' sweetheart, but Buchanan, with the aid of her brother and a traveling American circus, foils their plans. Felipe and Othomo are killed by the circus animals, and the aunt consents to Mercedes' marriage to Buchanan.

Michael, a half-breed Indian, is forced off a wagon train by scout Michael. Seeking revenge, he murders the wife of a college professor, kidnaps her baby daughter, and raises her as his own.

Civil engineer Warren Neale rescues a badly wounded Allie Lee after her family is killed in an Indian massacre. Falling in love after nursing her back to health, Warren must yet again save Allie when she is kidnapped by a dangerous bandit.

Lucy Bostil, daughter of a Colorado ranch owner, is led by a dog to his master, Lin Slone, who is exhausted from a struggle to capture a wild horse; she revives Lin and they christen the horse "Wildfire." The Bostils have entered Sage King in a race, but Lucy agrees to tame and train the wild horse, since Buckles, her favorite colt, has been stolen. When Joel Creech, a half-witted stable hand, is discharged, he becomes a tool of the Cordtses--who also have entered a horse (Buckles) in the race--in drugging Sage King. Lin and Lucy enter Wildfire under the Bostil colors, and she rides him to victory, When Cordts is disgraced and discovered to be a horse thief, he persuades Joel to abduct Lucy. Joel does so, but first he kills Cordts. Warned by his dog of Lucy's danger, Lin pursues and rescues the girl.

After her boss sexually harasses her and has an affair with her sister, stenographer Janet Butler quits to support a mill workers' strike, falls in love with a stockholder named Brooks Insall, witnesses her mother shoot the boss during the strike, is wrongly imprisoned but exonerated by Insall, and ultimately enjoys a happy future with him, her recovered mother, and her sister Elsie.

A fine cast brings depth to this melodrama of a crippled boy, an unhappy marriage, an injured young lady and the miracle of faith.