Lassiter rescues her rider, Venters (William Scott), from torture at the hands of a villain named Tull (Murdock MacQuarrie).

Her feelings for him change, however, when she sees the hardened gunfighter befriend her ward, a young orphan girl named Fay Larkin (Nancy Caswell).

Meanwhile, Lassiter learns that his sister is dead, and that the man who abducted her, Dyer (Marc Robbins), is also responsible for much of the trouble faced by Jane and her family.

[2] Riders of the Purple Sage features uncredited bit parts by future silent film stars Buck Jones and Jack Nelson.

"[2] In her review for Allmovie, Janiss Garza wrote that despite the "rousing climax", the film was "not one of the better adaptations of the Zane Grey novel.