The screenplay was written by Norman Houston loosely based on the 1923 novel Wanderer of the Wasteland by Zane Grey, the film is about a young cowboy searching for the man who killed his father when he was a boy.

In 1880 the Rafferty family is traveling by covered wagon across the Mojave Desert with their sheep when young Chito hears a voice crying out for help.

A boy named Adam Larey stumbles in from the unforgiving sands of Death Valley and leads them to his parents' burning wagon, where they discover the body of his murdered father—the mother having died earlier that day.

Adam and Chito (Richard Martin) have remained close through the years, and Mama and Papa Rafferty are overjoyed at their stepson's homecoming.

When they arrive in Pichacho, Adam spots a horse bearing the crescent J brand outside a saloon and confronts the owner, Jeanie's reckless brother Jay Collinshaw (Robert Clarke).

When Jay goes for his gun, Adam shoots him in the wrist in self-defense, then leaves the saloon with Chito and checks into a local hotel.

Convinced that Collinshaw killed his father, Adam decides to confront the old man at Jeanie's birthday party later that night.

The old man acknowledges the crime, explaining that he killed his father out of revenge because he took away Adam's mother, the woman Collinshaw loved.

[3] The reviewer for Variety magazine was equally unimpressed with the film, noting that it "doesn't offer much for fans of Western action and virility".

[3] In his review for AllMovie, Bruce Eder wrote that the film had promise and some good performances, but that it lacked character development and "could have been a better movie if the makers had been allowed to deliver something longer than 67 minutes".

[4] Despite these shortcomings, Eder appreciated the "engaging" performance of James Warren in his first starring role, as well as the "excellent support all around" from Richard Martin, Minerva Urecal, Harry D. Brown, and Audrey Long.

[6] A sound film adaptation was produced by Paramount in 1935, directed by Otho Lovering and starring Dean Jagger and Gail Patrick.