Nell Oakley lives in Red Rock, Ariz., and has a dissipated father. She goes in search of him in a gambling hall and tries to get him to return. The old man, being drunk and gambling with Jack Ransom, refuses. He loses and bets his daughter's hand against $500 of Ransom's money. The old man loses and in the argument which the girl puts up she is backed by Bill Palmer, a young miner. The gambler is generally unpopular and after a big melee makes his get-away. Nell leaves home and goes to Big Sandy, where she is taken in by Tom Loomis and his mother. Tom is station agent there and his mother is an invalid. He teaches the girl telegraphy. Meanwhile Jack Ransom and his band plot to rob the train. Tom is captured, but Nell, who has seen the bandits at the window, enters the telegraph office during their absence. She sends a message of warning to Red Rock, countermanding the false one the bandits forced Tom to send. The treasure train is amply protected and the bandits routed. Jack Ransom being killed. The young operator receives promotion and the story ends happily.
—Moving Picture World synopsis