On their way into the town of Devil's Hole, cowboy Red Ryder and his friends, Buckskin and Little Beaver, see a gang of bandits chasing a stagecoach. After frightening the bandits away, Red stops the stagecoach, on which newspaper editor Libby Brooks and her brother Gerry are riding. Gerry tells Red that he suspects that the leader of the gang, which has been terrorizing the townspeople for some time, is Frenchy Beaumont, the owner of the Parisian Hotel. Later, at the newspaper office in Devil's Hole, Gerry tells Tom, the typesetter, that he wants to print an article implicating Beaumont in the attempted holdup. When Beaumont reads the article, he instructs his henchman, Blackjack, to go to the newspaper office and provoke a fight so that he will be able to shoot Gerry and claim that he was defending himself. Blackjack follows Beaumont's orders, but when he draws his gun, Red arrives suddenly and shoots it out of his hand. Later, Red, Little Beaver and Buckskin visit Libby, who is at home with a cold. Meanwhile, Beaumont encounters Gerry in the street and demands that he meet him at dawn for a duel at Hangman's Oak. Later, Gerry's fiancée Marge senses his distraction, but he refuses to tell her about the duel. The next morning, Libby learns about the duel and tells Red about it. Red, Buckskin and Little Beaver rush to Hangman's Oak, arriving just in time to see Beaumont shoot and kill Gerry. Later, Red tells Libby about his plan to try to arrest Beaumont and put him in jail so that reluctant witnesses will be encouraged to come forward with their claims against him. Following Red's instructions, Libby arranges for the printing of a special edition of the paper, which contains another condemnation of Beaumont. When Beaumont and Blackjack learn of these latest accusations, they go to the newspaper office and demand to see the edition. Buckskin hands them the bogus copy, and when they read Libby's charges, Blackjack punches him in the mouth. Beaumont then takes the paper to his lawyer, Henry W. Iverson, who advises him that it is a clear cut case of criminal libel. Iverson rushes the case to trial, and Red, who is serving as Libby's counsel, explains that the edition that Beaumont saw was never distributed. Red then charges Beaumont with battery, and after he dismisses the libel charge, the judge sentences Blackjack to three years in prison. His plan foiled, Red goes to the hotel and issues a challenge to meet Beaumont at Hangman's Oak. The next morning during the duel, Beaumont's bullet grazes Red's temple, then lodges in a tree behind him. Later on that day, Red returns to the spot, retrieves the bullet and determines that the barrels of Beaumont's dueling pistols are not properly aligned. At the hotel, Red accuses Beaumont of rigging his pistols. When Beaumont punches him, Red arrests him and takes him to jail. The next morning, the paper reports that Beaumont has been indicted for manslaughter.
