Laughing Larry Laughton (Morrison) and his pal, Sagebrush Hilton (Rice), are informed that unless the ranch owners place ten thousand dollars in a designated spot on a certain day, the reservoir supplying the valley with water will be drained.

Unable to go to California himself on account of a disabled foot, his daughter Alice (Morris) offers to go for him and gets her cousin Raymond Moreton (Wilson), a daring young aviator, to take her in his plane.

Agents of Jasper Harwell (Osborne), who is trying by unfair means to get the ranch from Sinclair, have been installed in the New Orleans home and, learning of Alice's plans, try to prevent them from getting away.

Theses say that unless ten thousand dollars are paid by a certain date, the water will be drained from the reservoir, ruining the valley.

When Harwell's man Mort Carley (Cole) sees that Hilton is gaining favor for his idea, he steals a record-book from the table and slips out.

Carley loses control of the machine and it plunges off a high cliff, bounces on a ledge far below and continues on down into the lake below.