"Scooter" O'Neal is a young Chicago boy brought up in the slums by his idolized father, and "Scooter" dreams of being a cowboy out in the Wild West, where his father was once a rancher. He is overjoyed when he learns that he is being sent to Nevada to visit his dad's old friend, "Dobe" Jones. What he doesn't know is that his out-of-work father is about to be arrested for theft and is sending him away so he won't be there for the upcoming disgrace. "Scooter" expects to be greeted by "Dobe" and his wife, Eleanor, but is met only by "Dobe" and isn't responsive to "Scooter's" questions about his missing wife. "Dobe" has problems of his own and is about to send Scooter back to Chicago, when he gets a telegram informing him that Bill O'Neal has committed suicide. Knowing that Scooter will be put in an orphanage, he decides to keep the kid with him.